UN's blunt Malloch Brown raises US ire, again

Malloch Brown

UNITED NATIONS - With just three months left before his departure, UN Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown is becoming increasingly outspoken, at times overshadowing his boss Kofi Annan.

The 52-year-old Briton in an interview published on Wednesday said Britain should take a back seat in negotiations on the Middle East crisis, lest its diplomacy with the United States appear like a repeat of the team that led the Iraq invasion.

Instead, he told the Financial Times, the United States, which is a "critical broker of peace" should work with France and Arab nations like Jordan and Egypt rather than just appear on a podium with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

It was not the first time Malloch Brown had been outspoken in his criticism, prompting State Department spokesman Sean McCormack to say on Wednesday, "We are seeing a troubling pattern of a high official of the UN who seems to be making it his business to criticize member states and, frankly, with misplaced and misguided criticisms."

As deputy secretary-general since April, Malloch Brown is an old acquaintance of Annan, who asked him to leave the World Bank in 1999 and take over the UN Development Fund.

Annan's 10 years as secretary-general ends on December 31, 2006, and Malloch Brown's tenure with it.

A former Economist magazine journalist and Cambridge University graduate, Malloch Brown is considered one of the most politically savvy and media-friendly officials at the United Nations.

In January 2005, Annan made Malloch Brown his chief of staff in part to counter growing complaints of corruption in the oil-for-food program for Iraq.

A month later Malloch Brown forced out Ruud Lubbers, then head of UNHCR, after complaints of alleged sexual harassment but then had frequent disputes with the UN staff union.

In June he clashed with the United States, accusing the US government of relying on the United Nations as a diplomatic tool in hot spots but refusing to defend it against conservative criticism at home.

US Ambassador John Bolton then called the comments the "worst mistake by a senior UN official that I have seen in that entire time."

- REUTERS