9/6/2006
Annan Backs Deputy’s Call For Greater US Engagement With UN

Secretary-General Kofi Annan has supported the call by his Deputy for greater United States engagement with the United Nations, a UN spokesman announced this week. In his address to the Century Foundation and Center for American Progress, Security and Peace Initiative, Mr. Malloch Brown warned that “a moment of truth is coming” since the world’s challenges are growing but the UN’s ability to respond is being weakened without US leadership. The speech was attacked by the US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton, for its perceived criticism of current United States policy towards the UN.

Mr. Malloch Brown praised those US officials who have supported the UN and played leadership roles, but noted that “in recent years, the enormously divisive issue of Iraq and the big stick of financial withholding have come to define an unhappy marriage.”

Asked about John Bolton's criticisms, spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that the Secretary-General agreed with the thrust of Mr Malloch Brown's speech.

Mr. Malloch Brown, said later that he had made the speech out of concern for the current situation. “I felt this was something very important to say and to say now because we are in crisis,” he said, noting that he had been criticised by the G-77 caucus of developing countries in recent months for telling them that “they too need to get their house in order and engage around this reform agenda.”

Responding to questions on Ambassador Bolton’s reaction, Mr. Dujarric said that it was not an anti-US speech, but rather one that argued for greater US engagement in the United Nations, since it says that the United Nations cannot work without US engagement and leadership and UN reform cannot happen without the United States.

Since it takes “two sides to make a bargain,” Mr. Malloch Brown said it had been important “to deliver that call to my American friends.” The appeal, he emphasised, was not anti-US. “It was intended as a very pro-US speech in that its central point was an appeal for a more consistent public leadership by the United States in the United Nations.”

He said he was urging those concerned to “engage here, engage consistently, and go out and engage with the American public to say the UN matters.”