Ban Ki-moon vows to reform the U.N.
KASIE HUNTAssociated Press
WASHINGTON - The United Nations will see a series of reforms and be "reborn" under new leadership, new U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday.
"I am very much committed to changing the culture of the United Nations," Ban told reporters at the U.S. Capitol after meeting with members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Ban also called on Congress to reverse a law that caps U.S. spending on U.N. peacekeeping missions at 25 percent of the total cost. A U.N. agreement requires the U.S. to pay approximately 27 percent of the costs. Congress voted for the cap in April 2005 in response to the allegations of corruption and mismanagement in the oil-for-food program for Iraq, sexual abuses by peacekeepers and other scandals.
Ban's pledge of additional reforms came in the wake of Tuesday's indictment of U.N. oil-for-food chief Benon Sevan, who was charged with taking a $160,000 (euro124,000) bribe to influence who could buy Iraqi oil under the scandal-tainted humanitarian program.
That scandal sullied the record of then-Secretary-General Kofi Annan when an investigation led by former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker blamed shoddy U.N. management and the world's most powerful nations for allowing corruption in the $64 billion program to go on for years.
Ban, who was South Korea's foreign minister, took over for Annan on Jan. 1.
The Democratic chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Tom Lantos of California, praised Ban for promising reforms and pledging to release his own financial records. Lantos said this would be a first in the U.N.'s history.
The panel's top Republican, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, said: "The U.S. spends a lot of money on the U.N. system, and we want to see real results and real reforms."
The meeting with members of Congress came a day after Ban met with President Bush at the White House. Bush and Ban suggested they want to put behind them the discord typified by the administration's clash with the United Nations over the U.S.-led war that overthrew Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
Ban said he would need congressional help as he tries to mend that relationship.
"We need very active and continuing support from the U.S. Congress," Ban said.
KASIE HUNTAssociated Press
WASHINGTON - The United Nations will see a series of reforms and be "reborn" under new leadership, new U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday.
"I am very much committed to changing the culture of the United Nations," Ban told reporters at the U.S. Capitol after meeting with members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Ban also called on Congress to reverse a law that caps U.S. spending on U.N. peacekeeping missions at 25 percent of the total cost. A U.N. agreement requires the U.S. to pay approximately 27 percent of the costs. Congress voted for the cap in April 2005 in response to the allegations of corruption and mismanagement in the oil-for-food program for Iraq, sexual abuses by peacekeepers and other scandals.
Ban's pledge of additional reforms came in the wake of Tuesday's indictment of U.N. oil-for-food chief Benon Sevan, who was charged with taking a $160,000 (euro124,000) bribe to influence who could buy Iraqi oil under the scandal-tainted humanitarian program.
That scandal sullied the record of then-Secretary-General Kofi Annan when an investigation led by former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker blamed shoddy U.N. management and the world's most powerful nations for allowing corruption in the $64 billion program to go on for years.
Ban, who was South Korea's foreign minister, took over for Annan on Jan. 1.
The Democratic chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Tom Lantos of California, praised Ban for promising reforms and pledging to release his own financial records. Lantos said this would be a first in the U.N.'s history.
The panel's top Republican, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, said: "The U.S. spends a lot of money on the U.N. system, and we want to see real results and real reforms."
The meeting with members of Congress came a day after Ban met with President Bush at the White House. Bush and Ban suggested they want to put behind them the discord typified by the administration's clash with the United Nations over the U.S.-led war that overthrew Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
Ban said he would need congressional help as he tries to mend that relationship.
"We need very active and continuing support from the U.S. Congress," Ban said.
posted by Miami Kid at
5:55 PM
1 Comments:
"I am very much committed to changing the culture of the United Nations," Ban told reporters.
That's great news! Please pass along my recommendations to Mr Ban for how he can really make a difference...
www.UnitedDemocraticNations.org
Anything short of this proposal is, well, undemocratic.
gary
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