Tempers flare as US and UN bicker over relationship

NEW YORK - Tensions are soaring at the United Nations as a confrontation between the United States and UN leaders escalates to the point it may lead Washington and possibly Japan to start holding back on dues payments.

Payments expected later this year from Washington, Tokyo and possibly other major powers could be in jeopardy if the conflict ends up derailing a faltering drive for UN reforms that Washington wants adopted by the end of the month.

Japanese and US officials say they have no intention at this point of curtailing their dues or triggering a budget crisis at the world body.

But some US officials warn that angry members of Congress could do so as a result of what they see as growing anti-US sentiment among both UN leaders and developing nations, which make up the vast majority of the UN membership.

The bad feelings escalated this week after UN Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown accused Washington of keeping its extensive working relationship with the United Nations "a secret in Middle America." The Bush administration, he said, has failed to defend the world body against domestic critics even as it relied on it to deal with hot spots ranging from Iran to Syria to Afghanistan.

"Too much unchecked UN-bashing and stereotyping over too many years" has made the UN membership suspicious of US motives even when it champions issues like management reforms, Malloch Brown, a Briton, told a New York political conference.

The speech prompted US Ambassador John Bolton to demand that Annan repudiate his deputy, warning that while the speech's target was Washington, "the victim, I fear, will be the United Nations."

That raised concerns at the United Nations that the Bush administration might withhold all or part of its 2006 UN dues, which pay for about a quarter of the UN budget.

Japan, the second biggest dues payer, has also expressed dismay over the slow pace of UN reform, particularly after it lost a bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

But Annan stood firm, saying he agreed with the thrust of the speech. "The message that was intended is that the US needs the UN and the UN needs the US, and we need to support each other," he told reporters on Thursday.

His refusal to back down triggered a phone call on Wednesday from US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice assuring Annan she shared Bolton's sentiments.

Then on Thursday, Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns called Malloch Brown to express disappointment that a senior UN official had singled out a UN member for criticism, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Prodded by Bolton, wealthy nations paying for more than 85 per cent of the UN budget arranged in late 2005 for a June 30 budget cut-off if satisfactory reforms are not adopted.

Developing nations, fearing the big powers want only to cement their grip on the world body, have threatened to override the cut-off even if reforms fall short, daring wealthy nations to follow through on their threats to curtail dues.

Bolton insisted this week that Washington was not trying to produce a financial crisis at the United Nations.

"But we are committed to reform," he said. "The issue for us is how much substantive reform will we have achieved by June 30," he told a reporter when asked if the lights would soon be going out at the world body.

A US decision to withhold UN dues in protest, as it has in the past, could be politically risky.

US payments are typically made during the final months of each year, and a decision could fall right before November elections in which President George W Bush's Republican Party is scrambling to retain control of Congress.

But Annan played down the odds of a crisis.

"Quite frankly I think we are all too excited and nervous about this budget issue," he said. "The member states ought to be able to work it out." Even if someone threatened to "close down the shop," he said, "they will have lots of explanation to do, not just in this building, but to the people out there" in the world.

- REUTERS