The UN Oil-for-Food scandal

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First of all, Kofi Annan was the head of UN peacekeeping operations as far back 1994.

I get the feeling you're so enamored with Annan that you've convinced yourself he's above acountability. Was he nice to you during an internship or something? He's the foreman of an "impartial" body that makes up the UN's eyes and ears... and like any administrative scandal - someone has to take the fall. Painting him as a powerless spokesmen is inacurrate. His job is to oversee hundreds of agencies, funds, and programs in addition to acting as the public face for the UN.

Article 99 gives him direct power to advise the security council in the case of a potential international crisis, and this has been the standard practice since Trygve Lie did it with the Soviet invasion of Iran. Leaving him in control of a General Assembly who doesn't want him isn't the smoothest way to pander to a bunch corrupt nations...mostly autocracies, and psuedo democracies. Even the corrupt UN isn't happy that he pardoned Dileep Nair the UN's top oversight official before a proper probe of his aledged misconduct took place. Integrity is one of the main qualifications for the position.

Annan did have the ability to do more in Rwanda, and he's apologized for it. Their man on the ground thought it was preventable and points the finger at Annan. The UN itself is not powerless. It took action with Korea, Iraq/Kuwait in the past, and in the course of remaining impartial, they actually removed troops that were on the ground in Rwanda - which by default suggests a certain aggressive partiality by default towards Governments, allowing them to do their dirty work, no matter how dirty. It's this "impartiality that made Tibetan Budhist, Rwandan Tutsis, Lebanese Christians, Iraqi Kurds, and Black African Muslims in the Sudan all vulnerable. Annan continues to appease violent nations through bureacracy until it's too late, rather then confronting it them head on, and we're seeing this repeated once again with Darfur.