Stockholm, Jan 26: UN Secretary General Kofi
Annan today said the world had the capability but "lacked the
will" to prevent the mass slaughters of the 1990s, in opening
remarks here to the first international genocide conference in
over 50 years.
"There can be no more important issue, and no more
binding obligation, than the prevention of genocide," Annan
told 10 heads of state and officials of dozens of nations
gathered for the three-day conference hosted by Sweden.
The UN chief honed in on "especially shameful" cases
of the international community's inaction, including ethnic
cleansing in the former Yugoslavia and the 1994 genocide in
Rwanda.
"The events of the 1990s, in the former Yugoslavia
and in Rwanda, are especially shameful. The international
community clearly had the capacity to prevent these events.
But it lacked the will," Annan said.
He said those memories "especially painful" for the
United Nations.
"In Rwanda in 1994, and at Srebrenica in 1995, we had
peacekeeping troops on the ground at the very place and time
where genocidal acts were being committed," he said. "Instead
of reinforcing our troops, we withdrew them."
Bureau Report
