|
|
|
|
| Sunday, 19 June 2005 |
 |
|
 |
World |
 |
|
News Business Features
Editorial
|
US lawmakers threaten to slash UN funding WASHIGNTON, Saturday (AFP) The US House of Representatives voted Friday to withhold half of Washington?s UN dues absent world body reforms, a move opposed by President George W. Bush and UN chief Kofi Annan. The State Department and White House opposed the legislation to freeze about 50 percent of the US share of the UN budget. The Republican-controlled chamber voted 221-184 for the bill. Washington is the largest contributor to the United Nations, accounting for 438 million dollars of the world body?s 2005 budget of 1.82 billion dollars. UN critics in Congress took advantage of the debate to assail the organization, which has been plagued by a scandal over its Iraq oil-for-food program. ?Far from saving future generations from the scourge of war, the United Nations? history of hand-wringing, appeasement, and moral equivalence has exacerbated the scourge of war,? said House Republican majority leader Tom DeLay. The House?s number-two Democrat, Steny Hoyer, said it was in the in United States? interest to pay its share of the UN budget, warning that the legislation would bar the United States from supporting peacekeeping missions. ?We do have concerns about the legislation,? White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Thursday, urging lawmakers to ?reconsider? passing the bill. Annan criticized the legislation. The secretary general ?does not feel that withholding dues is a productive route to achieving reform and indeed that it could jeopardize the outcome of the September summit,? according to a written statement by Annan?s spokesman. World leaders will gather at UN headquarters in New York this September for the 60th UN general assembly to discuss various UN reforms that Annan has been proposing since March. Annan?s reform proposals are ?being actively discussed by member states in the run-up to a ?reform summit? of heads of government,? said the statement. Eight former US ambassadors to the United Nations, including Democrats and Republicans, have condemned the bill. The legislation threatens to block 220 million dollars in US funds if the world body fails to implement 32 of 39 reform measures, including changes to the discredited Geneva-based Human Rights Commission, whose 53 members include Cuba and Zimbabwe. The House passed the bill as the Republicans in the Senate are battling Democrats over the controversial nomination of senior State Department official John Bolton to be US ambassador to the United Nations. Democrats refuse to allow a vote on Bolton, saying they need the White House to release classified documents to review his case. Republicans leaders, however, said a vote will take place on Monday in a
bid to fill a post that has been vacant for five months. |
|
|||||||||
|
| News
| Business |
Features |
Editorial | Security | Produced by Lake House |
