Ire mounting in Washington over UN stance on Iraq: report
Yahoo /AFP ^
 

NEW YORK (AFP) - Frustration is mounting in the US administration over what it sees as the UN's reluctance to commit staff in Iraq (news - web sites) and unhelpful comments from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan (news - web sites), The New York Times reported.

In an interview with the Times Annan defended the UN role in Iraq as "essential" and said he was distressed by the criticism.

But White House officials are saying the United Nations (news - web sites) is drifting toward irrelevance and are developing a dismissive attitude toward Annan, according to a senior US official at the United Nations.

"The Iraqis and the Americans are completely frustrated," the official was quoted as saying. "The secretary general is still recommending many thousands of peacekeepers in Sierra Leone and the Congo, and yet there are seven election workers in Iraq. That tells the whole story."

"We're beyond anger. We won re-election, Kofi's term is up in '06 and though we have been asking him to define the UN role in Iraq, he is thumbing his nose at us," the official said, reporting views he said he heard at the White House in recent days.

Annan, who withdrew UN forces from Iraq in October 2003 after the bombing of the UN's Baghdad headquarters killed 22, has sent only "a handful" of election workers to Iraq.

He raised ire by stating in an interview in September that the war on Iraq was "illegal", by barring UN lawyers from training Iraqi judges and prosecutors who will be trying Saddam Hussein (news - web sites), and by telling the US, British and Iraqi governments in a letter two weeks ago that the military assault on Fallujah could undermine Iraqi elections scheduled for January.

In an interview with the Times, Annan defended his actions and the UN role in Iraq.

"I have tried to be as helpful as possible, and I have stated at every opportunity that the stabilization of Iraq is everyone's responsibility. I have argued that regardless of one's position on the war, we must all come together to stabilize Iraq," he said.

He said the United Nations had helped select the interim Iraqi government, had trained 6,000 election registrars and opened hundreds of registration places across Iraq, despite the low number of UN staff members now in Baghdad.

He has had little success persuading countries to contribute troops to a 4,000-member protection force -- mandated in a Security Council resolution -- to enable the United Nations to increase its presence in Iraq, he said.

The UN lacks a mandate to help create Iraqi courts, he pointed out, adding that the organization also formally opposes judicial systems that use the death penalty.

A union representing the UN's 60,000 employees has demanded the organization leave Iraq completely, Annan said, pointing to a need "to find creative ways to maintain a balance," the Times said.

"At least we are there, and many others are not there," he said.

"Without being boastful, I think that except for these activities of ours, we would not have moved as far as we have, whether it was the establishment of an interim Iraqi government or the preparation for the elections. I think our role has been essential, and not one that is played by an organization that is irrelevant," Annan said.