United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who is retiring from office after two five-year terms on Dec 31, has said that he was leaving the world body with a mixed feeling of dismay and optimism.
In an opinion piece in British newspaper
Sun, he expressed hope for positive changes in a world that faced a myriad of daunting challenges, ranging from poverty to global warming and terrorism.
Conceding that the world was not on track to meet all the Millennium Development Goal aimed at eliminating or drastically reducing several social and economic ills by 2015, Annan, however, feels encouraged by new initiatives to deal with debt relief, HIV/AIDS and undemocratic regimes.
'We risk a cascade of new countries and perhaps terrorists acquiring nuclear or biological weapons. Even