UN in dramatic climbdown after American pressure
By Charles Laurence in New York
(Filed: 20/03/2005)

The security of America and other wealthy countries will for the first time be declared a key priority for the United Nations under reforms designed to restore confidence in the crisis-ridden international body.

The reforms, to be announced tomorrow by Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, will be seen as a concession to Washington after repeated clashes with President George W Bush over US foreign policy, including the war in Iraq.

 
The UN Secretariat promises a "real re-launch … a fundamental manifesto" after criticism of its performance since the September 11 terrorist attacks and the Iraq oil-for-food scandal.

Mark Malloch Brown, the Briton newly appointed as the UN's chief of staff, said: "Reform really has to align the UN behind an agenda that includes a security system which can fully meet US concerns on terrorism."

He said that the drive to cut poverty and tackle social problems in developing nations would be couched in terms of the threat to the security of the West.

"For the first time since 1945, the UN is looking at what the world wants us to do," he said. "We need to offer something for everyone, something for The Sunday Telegraph reader as well as the struggling African."