THE OLD AND THE NEW UN SECRETARY-GENERAL

After initially arousing great expectations regarding its peace-creati ng capability immediately after the end of East-West confrontation the hopes pinned on the United Nations (UN) were dashed in many respects. The abject failure of the peacekeeping missions in Somalia and Bosnia as well as the criticism of the official activities of former UNSecre tary-General Boutros Boutros Ghali, who headed the international organ isation up until the end of 1996, played a major role. The American ve to against his re-election led to the appointment of Kofi Annan from G hana as the new UN Secretary-General. In the following article, Manuel Froehlich from the University of Jena analyses the reasons for Boutro s Boutros Ghali's failure and outlines his successor's new points of e mphasis.