US Senator Patrick Leahy on Wednesday gave his personal support to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, whose resignation has been demanded by a fellow senator, saying the US Congress shouldn't make the UN a political football.
The Vermont Democrat, who is also a member of the US delegation to the UN General Assembly, was the third member of Congress to come to UN headquarters to back Annan after Senator Norm Coleman urged him to step down over allegations of the corruption in the UN oil-for-food program.
Leahy said the White House assured him that its intent last week, when US Ambassador John Danforth expressed confidence in Annan and said he should remain at the helm of the UN, was to take the heat off calls for the secretary-general's resignation.
He said he talked to US Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice about Annan. "I know they support the secretary-general. I do, too," Leahy told reporters after a private meeting with Annan.
The Bush administration wants a thorough investigation of the oil-for-food allegations and Leahy said he believes all members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans, should wait for the results of the inquiry being led by former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker.
The call for Annan's resignation by Coleman, a Minnesota Republican, made headlines and led to an outpouring of support for the secretary-general from nations around the world. Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and Representative Tom Lantos of California, both Democrats, came here to personally back him.
But five Republican members of the House of Representatives endorsed Coleman's call and announced support for a bill that would withhold some US dues to the UN if the organization doesn't fully cooperate with investigations of the program.
Leahy said there is a potential that UN dues could become "a wedge issue" between Democrats and Republicans "and I think it's unfortunate."
As a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, he said he worked hard several years ago to get Congress to pay its back dues to the UN and doesn't want to see the same problem suddenly repeated.
"With all its imperfections the UN is a lot better than not having the UN, and the US -- with all the concerns it may have about various actions of the UN -- is a lot better off being an active member of the UN than not being," Leahy said.
"You always have people who will take shots at the UN, some of it legitimate, but I think we ought to take a deep breath," he said.
"This is not a time to make a political football out of the UN. We need them in the Sudan. We need them throughout parts of Africa. We need them" for peacekeeping in many countries and to help with elections, including in Iraq, he added.
BRUSHED OFF: An ambassador to Australia previously said that Beijing does not see a reason to apologize for its naval exercises and military maneuvers in international areas China set off alarm bells in New Zealand when it dispatched powerful warships on unprecedented missions in the South Pacific without explanation, military documents showed. Beijing has spent years expanding its reach in the southern Pacific Ocean, courting island nations with new hospitals, freshly paved roads and generous offers of climate aid. However, these diplomatic efforts have increasingly been accompanied by more overt displays of military power. Three Chinese warships sailed the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand in February, the first time such a task group had been sighted in those waters. “We have never seen vessels with this capability
A Japanese city would urge all smartphone users to limit screen time to two hours a day outside work or school under a proposed ordinance that includes no penalties. The limit — which would be recommended for all residents in Toyoake City — would not be binding and there would be no penalties incurred for higher usage, the draft ordinance showed. The proposal aims “to prevent excessive use of devices causing physical and mental health issues... including sleep problems,” Mayor Masafumi Koki said yesterday. The draft urges elementary-school students to avoid smartphones after 9pm, and junior-high students and older are advised not
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has fired his national police chief, who gained attention for leading the separate arrests of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte on orders of the International Criminal Court and televangelist Apollo Carreon Quiboloy, who is on the FBI’s most-wanted list for alleged child sex trafficking. Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin did not cite a reason for the removal of General Nicolas Torre as head of the 232,000-member national police force, a position he was appointed to by Marcos in May and which he would have held until 2027. He was replaced by another senior police general, Jose
POWER CONFLICT: The US president threatened to deploy National Guards in Baltimore. US media reports said he is also planning to station troops in Chicago US President Donald Trump on Sunday threatened to deploy National Guard troops to yet another Democratic stronghold, the Maryland city of Baltimore, as he seeks to expand his crackdown on crime and immigration. The Republican’s latest online rant about an “out of control, crime-ridden” city comes as Democratic state leaders — including Maryland Governor Wes Moore — line up to berate Trump on a high-profile political stage. Trump this month deployed the National Guard to the streets of Washington, in a widely criticized show of force the president said amounts to a federal takeover of US capital policing. The Guard began carrying
RSS