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POLITICS: U.S. Legislators Cross Swords with U.N. Bloc

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 16 2006 (IPS) - The Committee on International Relations of the U.S. House of Representatives has lambasted a coalition of 132 developing nations, accusing the group of trying to block a U.S.-inspired effort to bring about radical changes in the management of the U.N. Secretariat.

The letter, signed by Henry Hyde, chairman of the committee, and Tom Lantos, a ranking Democratic member, says the Group of 77 and China are working “feverishly” to block the efforts of Secretary-General Kofi Annan to “clean up the institution”.

“We and our colleagues in the House of Representatives have followed, and will continue to follow, your actions very closely, and we intend to hold you accountable for them,” the letter warns.

Less than 24 hours after the letter was delivered Thursday, the chairman of the 132-member Group of 77, Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo of South Africa, called for an “emergency meeting” of ambassadors to discuss the letter.

“The letter raises very important issues, and I would want to receive your guidance on how the Group of 77 and China wishes to respond,” he says.

The warning by the House Committee on International Relations is expected to trigger a firestorm of criticism by the 132-member Group of 77, the largest single coalition of member states at the United Nations.


For starters, a member of the Group told IPS the letter was not only “unprecedented” but also “a high handed act” by the committee, “which has no business to interfere in the working of the United Nations”.

“The United Nations is made up of 191 member states, and the United States is only a minority of one. We will have our own reaction to the letter,” he promised.

Annan, who is described by some ambassadors as “a lame duck secretary-general”, is accused of caving in to U.S. right-wing pressure to bring about changes in order to model the world body along the lines of a U.S. corporation headed by a chief executive officer.

In October, the G77 sought clarification from Annan as to whether “it is now the practice of senior officials of the Secretariat to report directly to national parliaments on actions taken by the membership of the United Nations”.

The U.N. Secretariat is “accountable to the (191-member) General Assembly and not to individual member states”. The role of the Secretariat, the G77 said, “is to implement the legislative mandates of the Organisation and accordingly, public utterances by Secretariat officials critical of decisions taken by the Assembly are not acceptable”.

Appearing before the same House Committee last October, Annan’s chief of staff Mark Malloch Brown told U.S. Congressmen, “We rely on our friends not only in the (George W. Bush) administration but also here in Congress. You, after all, have the power of the purse, and that ensures you an attentive audience wherever you go.”

In a strongly-worded letter to Annan last week, the G77 also criticised senior U.N. officials for bypassing the General Assembly and briefing the press on matters pertaining to the work of the Organisation – particularly regarding allegations of mismanagement, fraud and corruption.

In its letter, the G77 said these high-profile senior officials are seeking to undermine the oversight role of member states and the General Assembly. “It is counter-productive to our efforts to ensure trust and an open channel of communication between member states and the Secretariat,” it said.

This was the second letter the G77 sent to Annan in which it has faulted Secretariat officials. The first letter, sent in October last year, was directed at Malloch Brown. Last week’s letter was aimed at Under-Secretary-General for Management Christopher Burnham, a former U.S. State Department official.

The House Committee on International Relations said: “We are writing with regard to the outrageous attack you have launched on behalf of the Group of 77 against the U.N. Secretariat for its aggressive effort to shine a light on the corruption that has infected the U.N. procurement office.”

The committee also says that the letter to Annan “absurdly asserts that the G77 stands with those of us urging much-needed reform of U.N. management practices, while simultaneously blistering the Secretariat for its admirable public disclosure of a U.N. audit that documents a massive kickback and bribery scandal by U.N. procurement officers and U.N. contractors.”

“Apparently the Group of 77 and China would rather keep citizens of the world in the dark about the hundreds of millions of dollars that have been stolen from them by corrupt U.N. officials and companies contracting with them.”

“Reform of the U.N. hinges upon greater transparency and accountability to the people of the world, especially to the citizens of those few nations who bear the burden of financing U.N. programmes, many of which benefit nations belonging to your caucus,” the letter adds.

The committee also says that the most recent report detailing procurement abuse that “correctly” compelled the Secretariat to suspend eight employees, while alarming in its conclusions, highlights the very reason why reform efforts must be continued and even accelerated.

“With potential losses to the U.N. of nearly 300 million dollars in this most recent procurement scandal alone, this is not the time for obfuscation through bureaucratic and procedural objections,” the letter says, adding that the “status quo is no longer acceptable to a majority of Americans”.

 
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