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Bolton Admonishes U.N.
U.S. Could Bypass World Body if Reform Fails, He Says
By Colum Lynch
Washington Post Staff Writer
11/23/05 "Washington
Post" -- -- UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 22 -- John R.
Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, warned Tuesday
that the United States might bypass the United Nations to solve some
of the world's pressing problems if the organization is unable to
make management changes that will make it more effective and prevent
a recurrence of corruption.
Bolton's remarks come as the Bush administration is encountering
stiff resistance from poor countries to United States-backed
initiatives aimed at streamlining the United Nations' management
practices. The influential Group of 77 developing nations recently
issued a letter sharply criticizing plans by Secretary General Kofi
Annan to establish an ethics office and to review General
Assembly-created programs that are more than five years old to
determine whether they should be shut down.
The dispute has underscored the Bush administration's inability thus
far to parlay the findings of a U.N. investigation headed by former
Federal Reserve chairman Paul A. Volcker into a catalyst for
institutional change. Volcker's 18-month investigation into the
United Nations' management of the $64 billion oil-for-food program
in Iraq uncovered evidence of corruption by U.N. diplomats, foreign
dignitaries and companies from more than 60 countries.
Bolton said the General Assembly has "essentially not made progress"
since President Bush and other world leaders convened a U.N. summit
in September to endorse a platform of changes, including proposals
to increase scrutiny of spending practices and to create a human
rights council that would exclude rights abusers. He said that
continued resistance to change in the organization would drive the
American public away from the United Nations.
"Americans are a very practical people, and they don't view the U.N.
through theological lenses," Bolton told reporters outside the
General Assembly hall. "They look at it as a competitor in the
marketplace for global problem-solving, and if it's successful at
solving problems, they'll be inclined to use it. If it's not
successful at solving problems, they'll say, 'Are there other
institutions?' . . . that's why making the U.N. stronger and more
effective is a reform priority for us: Because if it's a more agile,
effective organization, it is more likely to be a successful
competitor as a global problem-solver."
World leaders had called on Annan to present a series of specific
reform proposals to the 191-nation General Assembly in early 2006.
But Bolton has voiced concern that key initiatives -- including the
new ethics office, a human rights council and a peace-building
commission -- would not get funded until the next budget negotiation
cycle, in late 2007.
In an effort to prod states into action, Bolton proposed delaying
the passage of the United Nations' $3.6 billion 2006-07 budget until
the United States-backed reforms have been adopted. He suggested the
General Assembly could pass a temporary budget to finance the
organization's operations through the first three to four months of
2006.
Some U.N. delegates fear that the United States will use the
maneuver to redirect funding from programs that are popular with
diplomats from poor countries to initiatives the United States and
its allies support.
Annan told reporters on Monday that he opposes a delay, warning that
the failure to adopt the budget by Dec. 31 may "create a serious
financial crisis for the organization."
Annan declined to comment on reports that Bolton warned that the
United Nations could find itself sidelined if it fails to implement
the administrative changes the United States supports. "I'm not the
interpreter of Ambassador Bolton," he said.
Annan sought to allay suspicions by G77 members that the effort is
aimed at reordering the United Nations' administrative priorities to
serve American interests, and to transfer more control of the
organization's budget from the General Assembly to the secretary
general's office. "I made it quite clear that there's no attempt at
power grab," he said. "We accept the General Assembly as the key
deliberative body of the organization."
© 2005 The Washington Post Company
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