"New Era" for U.N. after Obama win

UNITED NATIONS-U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday he looked for "a new era of partnership" with U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, indicating he hoped to move on from troubled U.N. ties with the Bush administration.Ban told journalists both Democrat Obama and Republican John McCain, who was defeated in Tuesday's presidential election, were "outstanding men" but he spoke warmly of Obama and said working with his administration would be "an historic opportunity. ""I am confident, today, about future relations between the United Nations and the United States," the U.N. secretary-general said. "With a glad heart, I welcome this new era of partnership for change." "I expect that the United States will take a more active participation in all United Nations organizations and activities," he said in reply to a question.Ban made no direct reference to the outgoing administration of Republican President George W. Bush, although he said on Monday, on the eve of the vote, that he had improved ties with it since he assumed his job at the beginning of last year.Relations suffered after the Security Council failed to explicitly back the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and former Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the invasion was illegal.From 2005-06, Washington's U.N. ambassador was outspoken conservative John Bolton, a sharp critic of the world body. U.S. officials repeatedly questioned the United Nations about alleged malpractice in North Korea and elsewhere.Suggesting Obama shared U.N. goals, Ban on Wednesday quoted the president-elect as saying he wanted to build "bridges of cooperation" with the world body and that no country had a bigger stake than the United States in a strong United Nations.Ban said he had asked for a telephone call with Obama to congratulate him and discuss global challenges including climate change, the financial and food crises, human rights and regional conflicts. He also wanted to meet Obama and his transition team as soon as possible.The U.N. chief highlighted Obama's support for dialogue with foreign nations to resolve conflicts-comments that brought Obama flak from critics who said he should not sit down with leaders of countries such as Iran or Cuba.Ban said he hoped Obama would "engage various leaders of the world and also parties (to) the conflicts and problems."Ban recalled that he had met Obama by chance on an air shuttle from Washington to New York in February 2007 and they had talked for more than half an hour."He asked many questions about what the United Nations' major goals are, issues on nonproliferation, like the North Korean and Iranian nuclear issues, and U.N. reforms. He was very engaged and he knew a lot about the United Nations, and I was very much encouraged," Ban said.
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As in the days of Noah....