Annan Denies, Again, That He'll Resign
BY BENNY AVNI - Staff Reporter of the Sun
June 16, 2005

UNITED NATIONS - Secretary-General Annan yesterday was forced to deny - again - any contemplation of resigning, and to his rescue came an unexpected ally: the Bush administration, which issued statements intended to shield the United Nations from Republican legislators who want to enforce reforms at the world body by threatening to cut American funding.
Mr. Annan said yesterday he had absolutely ruled out the idea of stepping down, as commentators around the world questioned his role in the oil-for-food scandal.
In an interview with the French daily Le Figaro, Mr. Annan said that despite fresh allegations that his influence played a part in the awarding of a U.N. contract to a company that had employed his son, he will move forward with his own U.N. reform plan. I am determined to work with the member states to conduct these reforms, he said.
Mr. Annan's remarks came as the committee investigating the oil-for-food scandal began to reconsider its findings on the secretary-general because of a newly unearthed e-mail indicating that he may have known about a bid by the Swiss company Cotecna before it won its 1998 contract under the oil-for-food program.
The e-mail's author, Michael Wilson, issued a statement yesterday that contradicted his original memo. Mr. Wilson never met or had any discussion with Mr. Annan on awarding a U.N. contract to Cotecna during a summit in Paris of French-speaking nations - or at any other time prior to the awarding of the contract, the statement read.
The statement, issued by the British law firm Schillings, which represents Mr. Wilson, seemed to contradict his December 4, 1998, e-mail memo addressed to his former bosses at Cotecna. The memo was made available to congressional investigators this week by the company. We had a brief discussion with the S.G. and his entourage during the francophone summit of November 25-28, it read.
Yesterday's statement did not rule out the possibility that the word we in the 1998 memo might indicate a discussion between Kojo Annan and his father or someone else in the secretary-general's entourage.
Mr. Annan indicated yesterday that the reopening of the investigation by the U.N.-appointed committee headed by Paul Volcker was driven by enemies in the press and certain American politicians. The Volcker committee could not conduct the investigation with serenity while it faces incessant attacks against me, the U.N., and this committee, Mr. Annan said, according to a translation of the Le Figaro interview made available by Reuters.
The Bush administration yesterday stressed its opposition to congressional intentions to force the State Department to withhold America's U.N dues unless it reforms. The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote today on the U.N. Reform Act, legislation proposed by the chairman of the International Relations Committee, Henry Hyde, a Republican of Illinois.
The act states, Failure by the Department of State to certify U.N. compliance with the reforms will result in a 50% reduction in U.S. contributions to the U.N. - which receives 22% of its annual budget from America.
A host of proposed reform packages, including one generated by the United Nations itself, underline similar problems to those addressed in the Hyde legislation. But there is strong resistance to withholding dues among Democrats and by the administration. Democrats, led by Rep. Tom Lantos of California, intend to present an alternative to the bill today, which would remove the threat of cutting dues. God gave us 10 commandments. Hyde gave us 39, Mr. Lantos told reporters yesterday.
We have serious concerns with the bill, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, Nicholas Burns, said in an interview with the New York Times posted on its Web site yesterday. We don't want to put ourselves in a position where the United States is withholding 50% of the American contributions to the U.N. system. He was not asked whether President Bush would translate his opposition to a veto, if the Senate enacts a similar bill.
This is not surprising, Mr. Hyde said in a statement. Every administration reflexively resists Congressional involvement in foreign policy, and opposes any limits on its freedom of action. But the constitution gives to Congress the power of the purse, and we intend to exercise it in pursuit of meaningful U.N. reform.