久久亚洲国产成人影院-久久亚洲国产的中文-久久亚洲国产高清-久久亚洲国产精品-亚洲图片偷拍自拍-亚洲图色视频

  Home>News Center>World
         
 

UN rejects call for Annan's resignation
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-12-02 20:38

United Nations member states voiced support for Secretary-General Kofi Annan after a U.S. senator called for him to resign over possible fraud in Iraq's oil-for-food program. The State Department endorsed a Senate investigation of the troubled program but sidestepped the issue of Annan's future.

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan announces Russia's ratification of the Kyoto Climate treaty during the Security Council meeting in Nairobi November 18, 2004.  [Reuters]
Sen. Norm Coleman, who is leading one of five U.S. congressional investigations into the U.N. oil-for-food program, wrote in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal that Annan should step down because "the most extensive fraud in the history of the U.N. occurred on his watch."

The Minnesota Republican joined several U.S. newspapers and columnists in urging that Annan be replaced.

State Department spokesman Adam Ereli backed the congressional investigations but sidestepped the issue of Annan's resignation, saying "that is not something, frankly, that is in front of us."

Outside of Coleman's call, the secretary-general appears to retain wide support among the 191 U.N. member states who elected him to a second five-year term in 2001.

Russia, Britain, Chile, Spain and other nations on the U.N. Security Council strongly backed Annan in recent days, as did non-council members. The 54 African nations sent a letter of support.

"He has heard no calls for resignation from any member state," U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard told reporters when asked whether he envisioned Annan's stepping down. "If there's some agitation on this issue on the sidelines ... that's healthy debate. But he is intent on continuing his substantive work for the remaining two years and one month of his term."

Annan was doing just that on Wednesday, urging Wall Street financiers to support the global campaign against AIDS. He was also preparing for Thursday's launch of a report by a high-level panel recommending the most extensive reform of the United Nations since its founding in 1945.

The allegations of corruption in the oil-for-food program, which first surfaced in January, have escalated, embarrassing Annan and taking the spotlight off his agenda.

Two weeks ago, Coleman's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations said it had uncovered evidence that Saddam Hussein's government raised more than $21.3 billion in illegal revenue by subverting U.N. sanctions against Iraq, including the oil-for-food program.

On Monday, Annan said he was "very disappointed and surprised" that his son Kojo received payments until February 2004 from a firm that had a contract with the oil-for-food program. The Swiss-based firm Cotecna Inspection S.A., said Kojo Annan was paid $2,500 a month to prevent him from working for competitors after he left the company in 1998.

Annan said he understood "the perception problem for the U.N.," but he reiterated that he has never been involved in granting contracts to Cotecna or anyone else.

The secretary-general appointed former U.S. Federal Reserve chief Paul Volcker to head an independent inquiry into the oil-for-food program. He handed over all U.N. documents and ordered U.N. officials to cooperate.

Volcker wrote to Coleman two weeks ago to say his investigation won't share documents until its own reports are issued starting in January. Coleman said this was another factor in asking for Annan's resignation.

Coleman wrote in the Wall Street Journal that "as long as Mr. Annan remains in charge, the world will never be able to learn the full extent of the bribes, kickbacks and under-the-table payments that took place under the U.N.'s collective nose."

The oil-for-food program, which began in 1996, permitted Iraq to sell oil, provided that the revenue went for food, medicine and other necessities. At the time, Iraq was under tough U.N. economic penalties.

"Mr. Annan was at the helm of the U.N. for all but a few days of the oil-for-food program, and he must, therefore, be held accountable for the U.N.'s utter failure to detect or stop Saddam's abuses," Coleman wrote.

Ereli said the State Department believes that Congress has a right to investigate. But he added that Annan "has been working positively and cooperatively" in trying to find out what happened.

Eckhard reiterated that until the Volcker investigation is completed, the secretary-general "will not rush to judgment, and he urges others not to rush to judgment either."

Russia's deputy foreign minister Yuri Fedotov told the Interfax news agency on Tuesday that criticism of Annan "is without foundation." Chile's U.N. Ambassador Heraldo Munoz said "we trust his leadership."

Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said his country "gives its full support to the multilateral system, to the United Nations and to its secretary-general."

Annan also got strong support at a meeting Wednesday with the ambassadors of Argentina, Algeria, Colombia, Egypt, Italy, Mexico, Morocco, Pakistan, South Korea, Spain and Turkey.



 
  Today's Top News     Top World News
 

Government rules out forming new energy ministry

 

   
 

Modified rice at least a year away

 

   
 

Putin strongly opposes new Ukraine runoff

 

   
 

EU urged to lift arms embargo on China

 

   
 

Central bank allows more RMB out of border

 

   
 

Bush adamant on Iraq election schedule

 

   
  US sends more troops to Iraq for elections
   
  Bush names new head of homeland security
   
  Bush adamant on Iraq election schedule
   
  Bin Laden contacted Indonesia's Bashir, court told
   
  Headless bodies found at mysterious Mexico pyramid
   
  Putin strongly opposes new Ukraine runoff
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  Related Stories  
   
UN chief 'shocked' by attack on UN chopper in Abkhazia
   
UN rejects call for Annan's resignation
   
Annan getting support at UN, White House cautious
   
Firm paid Annan's son for years -- UN
   
Annan backs stem cell studies, differs with Bush
   
President pledges support to UN, Annan
   
UN council backs peacekeeper cutback in Cyprus
  News Talk  
  Are the Republicans exploiting the memory of 9/11?  
Advertisement
         
主站蜘蛛池模板: 女人张开腿给人桶免费视频 | 国产精品国产三级国产a | 手机在线观看一级午夜片 | 日本乱子伦xxxx | 在线毛片网站 | 成人做爰网站免费看 | tom影院亚洲国产日本一区 | 国产精品嘿咻嘿咻在线播放 | 久久一区二区三区免费播放 | 黄 色 三 片 | 一级做a爰片久久毛片免费看 | 国产a久久精品一区二区三区 | 精品一区二区在线欧美日韩 | 成人黄18免费网站 | 一级做a爱过程免费观看 | 欧美成人精品高清在线观看 | 男女牲高爱潮免费视频男女 | 久久精品在线 | 中文字幕亚洲精品日韩精品 | 亚洲精品天堂自在久久77 | 欧美视频一级 | 亚洲成a人片毛片在线 | 亚洲图片一区二区三区 | 日韩成人免费在线视频 | 亚洲欧洲久久久精品 | 亚洲性爰视频 | 新婚第一次一级毛片 | 国产婷婷成人久久av免费高清 | 美女视频黄色在线观看 | xxx国产老太婆视频 xxx欧美老熟 | 日本红怡院亚洲红怡院最新 | 日本三级在线观看中文字 | 成年人色网站 | 久草最新视频 | 欧美另类孕交免费观看 | 男人和女人搞黄 | 国产无卡一级毛片aaa | 欧美一级毛片美99毛片 | 日韩a级毛片免费视频 | 俺来也俺来也天天夜夜视频 | 成人久久网 |