Landmines are among the most barbaric weapons of war, because they continue to kill and maim innocent people long after the war itself has ended. Also, fear of them keeps people off the land, and thus prevents them from growing food.

When the US withdrew their troops from Somalia, I recall making a comment that [in] the way the peacekeepers had been withdrawn from Somalia, the impression had been given that the easiest way to unravel a peacekeeping operation is to kill a few soldiers.

My intimate knowledge of the [UN] system allowed me to get things done despite the many obstacles.

To live is to choose. But to choose well, you must know who you are and what you stand for, where you want to go and why you want to get there.

Nelson Mandela stands as an inspiration to us all

If the United Nations does not attempt to chart a course for the world's people in the first decades of the new millennium, who will?

I think the generational change is going to be so important for Africa that we really should encourage and push it as much as we can, because some of these younger men and women, who are men and women of their times, and are also connected to the rest of the world, wouldn't even know how to behave in the way some of the old leaders do.