documentary entitled De hvite hjelperne (The white helpers) with footage and research from Malawi concerning the Norwegian Red Cross's donation of hundreds of Norwegian army surplus M621 trucks. The documentary highlighted the trucks' primitive construction and poor condition, and general uselessness to the Malawi community. Although Egeland and the Red Cross declared this operation a success, the trucks were little more than scrap metal. In March 2008, TV2 aired another documentary entitled Sultbløffen (The famine scam) about the 2005–06 Niger food crisis. Then-UN relief coordinator Egeland and several others were accused of bluffing and of blowing the situation out of proportion. Recognition Awards 2005 – Peer Gynt Prize 2008 – Four Freedoms Award Other accolades In 2006, Time magazine named Egeland one of the 100 "people who shape our world",. In 2012, the Norwegian group Ylvis produced a parody/tribute rock song about Jan Egeland, hailing him as "the United Nations superhero man" and "a peacekeeping machine." Egeland's response, in an e-mail to NPR, was "I think it is hilarious with its crazy text and great tune." As of December 2021, the video has been viewed more than 19 million times. Personal life Egeland was married to former Norwegian Minister of International Development Anne Kristin Sydnes until her death in 2017, and has two daughters. References External links Secretary-General Appoints Jan Egeland of Norway New Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, UN press release in 2003 United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs The white saviors and the white trucks Egeland accused of bluffing about starvation Lecture transcript and video of Egeland's speech at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice at the University of San Diego, March 2008 1957 births Human Rights Watch people Living people Labour Party (Norway) politicians Norwegian state secretaries Norwegian diplomats Under-Secretaries-General of the United Nations Directors of government agencies of Norway Norwegian non-fiction writers Norwegian human rights activists Place of birth missing (living people) Norwegian officials of the United Nations Recipients of the Four Freedoms Award University of Oslo alumni Academic staff of the University of Stavanger University of California, Berkeley alumni