The United Nations on Wednesday rejected a US senator's call for the resignation of Secretary- General Kofi Annan, saying no country has asked him to step down and 2,700 UN staff members have signed a letter of support.

Also on Wednesday, thousands of UN staff as well as African nations rallied around Annan, wounded by US allegations that he allowed corruption in the now-defunct Iraq oil-for-food program.

Resignation call

Senator Norm Coleman, who is leading one of five US congressional investigations into the UN oil-for-food program in Iraq, wrote in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal that Annan should step down because "the most extensive fraud in the history of the UN occurred on his watch."

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

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

Outside the United States, Annan appears to retain wide support among the 191 UN member states who elected him to a second five-year term in 2001.

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

"A few voices doesn't make a chorus," UN spokesman Fred Eckhard told reporters when asked whether he envisioned Annan stepping down.

"He has heard no calls for resignation from any member state. If there's some agitation on this issue on the sidelines, that's fine. 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 to fight AIDS with money and expertise, and preparing for yesterday's official launch of a report by a high-level panel recommending the most extensive reform of the United Nations since it was founded in 1945.

Eckhard said Annan's agenda for the rest of his term is to campaign for UN reform and fulfilling goals adopted by world leaders in 2000, including cutting in half by 2015 the number of people living in dire poverty.

But the allegations of corruption in the oil-for-food program, which first surfaced in January, have escalated, embarrassing Annan personally 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 US$21.3 billion in illegal revenue by subverting UN sanctions against Iraq, including the oil-for-food program.

Annan said he understood "the perception problem for the UN, or the perception of conflict of interests and wrongdoing." But he reiterated that he has never been involved in granting contracts, to Cotecna or anyone else.

The secretary-general appointed former US Federal Reserve chief Paul Volcker to head an independent inquiry into the oil-for-food program.

He handed over all UN documents and ordered UN officials to cooperate.

Volcker wrote to Coleman two weeks ago saying his investigation will not hand over any documents or interviews until its own reports are issued starting in January. Coleman said this was another factor in asking for Annan's resignation.

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."

Wide support

Eckhard noted that more than 2,700 UN Secretariat staff had endorsed a letter supporting the secretary-general "at a time when the organization is facing allegations about its integrity."

On a UN internal e-mail system, started two days ago, some 3,000 staff have so far have signed on to a letter saying many of the accusations leveled against the world body were "made without full knowledge of the facts."

"More than ever, we support the secretary-general in his balanced, fair and substantive approach," the letter said.

One of the letter's originators, Georg Kell, executive head of the Global Compact Office, which engages business leaders, said the e-mail reached more than 8,000 staff in New York, Geneva and elsewhere and responses were flooding in.

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov told the Interfax News Agency that criticism of Annan "is without foundation" and "motivated by a desire to belittle the UN's role as well as to undermine the foundation of the principles of multilateralism in international relations."

Annan "has done a lot to strengthen the authority of the world organization, intensify its role and raise the effectiveness of the steps being taken by the UN on the full range of issues in international life," Fedotov said on Tuesday.

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

Chile's UN Ambassador Heraldo Munoz strongly disagreed with Coleman's call for Annan's resignation, saying "we trust his leadership."

African countries at the United Nations have also sent a letter to Annan saying media reports were biased and pledged to support him.

Annan received strong support at a meeting on Wednesday with the ambassadors of Argentina, Algeria, Colombia, Egypt, Italy, Mexico, Morocco, Pakistan, South Korea, Spain and Turkey to discuss UN reform.

Spain's UN Ambassador Juan Antonio Yanez-Barnuevo said the ambassadors wanted to express their support to the secretary-general and the United Nations "at a moment when there are a number of unfair and unwarranted attacks." He expressed hope that Annan will continue to be an "inspiration to us all."

(China Daily December 3, 2004)