U.S. warned on dues freeze

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U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's chief of staff yesterday acknowledged that scandals involving Iraq, peacekeeping and human rights have hurt the world body, but said any move to freeze or cut U.S. dues would set back the cause of reform.

"The option of withholding money immediately sets you off from all of your allies in this fight," Mark Malloch Brown, Mr. Annan's recently appointed chief of staff, told a House International Relations Committee hearing.

"It would be seen as the United States once again acting alone," he said.

But several lawmakers expressed unhappiness with the United Nations' cooperation in the Iraq oil-for-food program, a $65 billion humanitarian program that has become the largest financial scandal in the body's history.

The House committee and a U.N. investigation appointed by Mr. Annan have clashed over access to documents relating to the scandal, in which Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein stole an estimated $10 billion through illegal oil sales and kickbacks.

The U.N. official who ran the oil-for-food program is now accused of profiting from the scandal, and it was later revealed that Mr. Annan's former chief of staff, who retired in December, had shredded large numbers of files related to the program before leaving.

"We're getting absolutely no cooperation from the U.N. in getting to the bottom of this, and we are the biggest [contributors] to the U.N. budget," said Rep. Dan Burton, Indiana Republican.

Rep. Jeff Flake, Arizona Republican, noted that Mr. Annan has been in office since 1997, with little to show for his past efforts at reform.

"I don't think we can [take withholding U.S. dues] off the table," he said. "Sometimes, it is the only card we have."

Committee Chairman Henry J. Hyde, Illinois Republican, plans to introduce a major U.N. reform bill this year, saying the organization does useful work in dispute mediation, health and other areas.