U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan defended his top deputy Thursday from sharp
U.S. criticism about a speech that faulted Washington's attitude toward the
United Nations.
Serbian President
Boris Tadic, left, shakes hands with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi
Annan, at U.N. headquarters in New York, Thursday, June 8, 2006.
[AP] |
Annan told reporters the thrust of the speech from Deputy Secretary-General
Mark Malloch Brown was that the United States and the United Nations need each
other. He also warned the U.S. against abandoning efforts to reform the world
body because of the remarks.
"If one is going to use the argument that 'I'm not satisfied with reform and
I'm going to close down the shop,' they will have lots of explanation to do, not
just in this building but to the people out there," Annan said.
Malloch Brown's speech to a conference on Tuesday was a rare direct rebuke of
the top financial contributor to the U.N. He said the United States relies on
the U.N. diplomatically but refuses to defend it before its critics at home.
"Much of the public discourse that reaches the U.S. heartland has been
largely abandoned to its loudest detractors such as Rush Limbaugh and Fox News,"
Malloch Brown said.
The next day, Bolton called the speech a "very, very grave mistake." In
remarks that were unusually strong even for the outspoken diplomat, Bolton
ominously warned that the speech threatened the organization itself.
In a speech in London on Thursday, Bolton repeated his belief that Malloch
Brown's comment could wreak havoc on efforts to reform the U.N. He called the
remarks a "classic political mistake and I don't think we've seen the end of the
consequences."
The back and forth highlighted the often tense relationship between the
United States and the U.N., which was seriously strained after the U.N. Security
Council refused to back the Iraq war in 2003.
The relationship has been further strained since the arrival last year of
Bolton, a blunt advocate for U.S. interests who has a penchant for eschewing
diplomatic language and speaking plainly about his belief that the United
Nations desperately needs reform.
That has sometimes alienated other U.N. ambassadors and some U.N. officials,
who have said they do not help the reform effort. In an interview with USA
Today, Malloch Brown himself said Bolton was "a real force here, but in a way
that provokes a lot of reaction and opposition from others."
That tension has been made clear as member states wrestle with proposals to
overhaul the way the U.N. is run by giving him more power to make financial
decisions and hire and fire staff.
Rich nations including the United States back those reforms, while developing
nations that only pay a tiny portion of the U.N. budget are opposed.
Those concerns are particularly pressing because member states imposed a
budget cap at the U.N. that expires at the end of June and can only be lifted if
they see progress on reform.
Annan told reporters he believed that member states would work out their
differences over the budget cap.
"Quite frankly I think we are all too excited and nervous about this budget
issue," he said. "I do not see a major budget crisis at the end of this month."
In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice expressed her disappointment over Malloch Brown's remarks
in a phone conversation with Annan on Wednesday.
McCormack said the United States stands by Bolton's remarks about Malloch
Brown's speech.
Yet he also sounded a note of reconciliation, saying that the United States
and the United Nations "do a lot of good work together around the world."
"We're a leading supporter of the World Health Organization, which is
fighting HIV/ AIDS around the world as well as the threat of avian influenza,"
McCormack said.
