Allies back Annan in face of US rebuke

Kofi Annan

NEW YORK - United Nations staff, diplomats and African nations have rallied to the defence of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, wounded by United States allegations of corruption in the now-defunct Iraq oil-for-food programme.

But the Bush Administration was cautious. The White House referred reactions to US Ambassador John Danforth, who said earlier: "I don't think the US Government rushes to judgment before all the facts are in."

A US official in Washington said the Administration did not believe Annan should resign over the scandal, but it was reluctant to strongly defend him because there is some "irritation with Annan" over Iraq.

"There was no hunger to stand up and say Annan is doing a great job," the official said.

He said the UN was less than eager to get involved in Iraq after its Baghdad headquarters was bombed in August last year.

"We [pushed hard] to deal with the issue of security and every time another problem is solved, another problem is put on the table."

At a meeting with Annan on Security Council reform, the ambassadors of Argentina, Algeria, Colombia, Egypt, Italy, Mexico, Morocco, Pakistan, South Korea, Spain and Turkey expressed strong support for him.

Spain's UN ambassador, Juan Antonio Yanez-Barnuevo, said the group had mentioned "unfair and unwarranted attacks" against Annan, who was an "inspiration to us all".

African countries at the UN have sent a separate letter to Annan pledging support.

Some 3000 UN staff have signed an email letter saying many of the accusations against the world body were "made without full knowledge of the facts".

"More than ever, we support the Secretary-General in his balanced, fair and substantive approach," the letter said.

Conservative columnists and Republican Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota, chairman of the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, have called for Annan to resign.

Coleman charged that ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein reaped US$21.3 billion ($30 billion) because of Annan's lack of oversight - a figure far higher than those in other recent US inquiries.

At issue is a US$64 billion programme for Iraq, administered by the UN and supervised by the 15-nation Security Council, that was meant to ease the impact of sanctions on ordinary Iraqis.

Since Saddam's fall, there have been widespread allegations of violations of UN sanctions, many connected to the UN programme but others involving oil smuggling to countries such as Jordan and Turkey, known by the US since 1991.

Charles Duelfer, a former UN arms inspector, said Saddam had earned US$2 billion by cheating the oil-for-food programme and another US$7.5 billion outside the programme since 1991.

The latest charges involve Annan's son Kojo, who worked for a Swiss firm, Cotecna, which inspected goods under the oil-for-food programme and is under investigation.

The younger Annan worked in West Africa, not in Iraq.

UN officials say the Secretary-General had nothing to do with the contract going to Cotecna in 1999, but Kojo Annan's full relationship with the firm was not revealed until last week.

- REUTERS