By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 16 2001 (IPS)

The new Republican administration of US president George W. Bush, which took office Jan. 20, is yet to name an ambassador to the United Nations – even though all other key appointments have been made so far.

“I don’t think the Republicans will have much faith in the United Nations,” a Third World diplomat told IPS Thursday. “The signs are already visible,” he said, referring to the absence of a new US envoy since the departure of Richard Holbrooke last month.

The post, which had cabinet rank under the former Bill Clinton administration, is also to be downgraded. If it declines in rank, the US envoy to the United Nations will be just another diplomat heading a US mission, this time in New York, not in a far-flung outpost in Asia or Africa.

Madeleine Albright, a former US ambassador (1993-1997), not only held cabinet rank but also ended up as US Secretary of State under the Clinton administration. So did her successor Ambassador Bill Richardson (1997-1998) who eventually went on to become the Energy Secretary.

The rank of US envoy to the United Nations has see-sawed over the years: in 1961 Adlai Stevenson held cabinet rank, but in 1989 Thomas Pickering did not.

At least two potential candidates for the job: former Congressman Lee Hamilton and former presidential aspirant Elizabeth Dole are said to have turned down the job because it will not have cabinet rank under the Bush administration.

Asked what message Washington is giving the United Nations in not naming an ambassador, US Secretary of State Colin Powell told reporters Wednesday: “It shouldn’t cause the United Nations here in New York any concern whatsoever”.

Addressing reporters during his first official visit to the United Nations, Powell said that “it takes us a while in our process to come up with people for jobs … I am still the only new official in the State Department, and I can tell you that, while I am surrounded by superb colleagues in the professional service, I am still a little bit lonely.”

Powell said he was anxious for new people to be appointed. But he assured UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan that this process is well underway, and a new US ambassador will be named “in the not too distant future”.

One of the reasons for the delay may well be the longstanding rightwing Republican perspective of the world body. The Republican view is that the United Nations is not only an institution that is overstaffed, badly managed and crying out for a radical restucturing, but that it also has virtually outlived its usefulness.

Holbrooke was quoted as saying that the Bush administration has only three choices regarding the United Nations: firstly, it can leave the UN as it is and eventually its weakness will undermine its potential effectiveness. Secondly, it can abandon the UN and yield to the far right Republicans who aim to destroy the world body. Or thirdly, the Bush administration can proceed from the understanding that the UN is flawed but still indispensable to US national interest, and therefore make it more effective.

After a closed door meeting with Annan, Powell publicly expressed the administration’s support for the United Nations.

“I took the opportunity this afternoon in our conversation to express to the Secretary-General our strong support, the president’s (George W. Bush) strong support, of the work of the United Nations, he said.

“We look forward to working very closely with the Secretary- General and our other colleagues within the United Nations – the other member nations – in dealing with the various problems that exist in the world today,” he added.

After a long drawn out debate in late December, the United States succeeded in getting agreement from the General Assembly to reduce Washington’s assessed dues to the world body. The United States, which traditionally accounted for 25 percent of the UN’s regular budget, will now pay only 22 percent.

The campaign for a change in the scale of assessment was led by Holbrooke during his last few weeks in office.

Powell said he was pleased that the US had “removed that irritant in the relationship between the United States and the United Nations – the funding problem”. He singled out Holbrooke and his staff for special praise for the “superb work that he had performed”.

The reduction in the scale of assessment was one of the conditions laid down last year by the Republican-controlled Congress for payment of outstanding US dues to the world body.

Last week, the US Senate released about 600 million dollars in outstanding dues. But there is also about 500 million dollars in contested arrears which the United States and the United Nations will sort out later this year.

Powell said the new administration will also like to take advantage of the “great opportunities to bring wealth to the people of the world, to allow people to reach out and touch their dreams and to be successful.

“So it is a time of challenge, a time of opportunity, but also a time of risk and danger. We know the important role the United Nations will play, and we look forward to working with the Secretary-General and his colleagues,” he added.

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