U.N. Chief Admits Oil-for-Food Missteps
By Warren Hoge
September 8, 2005
The New York Times
Original Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/08/international/08food.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1126184080-VrPZD8MwBnj9A35Nr9IBPA
UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 7 - Secretary General Kofi Annan said Wednesday that he took personal responsibility for the management failures highlighted in a damning new report on the oil-for-food program, and he urged adoption of fundamental changes in the way the United Nations is run.
Addressing the Security Council along with the report's author, the former Federal Reserve chairman, Paul A. Volcker, Mr. Annan said, The report is critical of me personally, and I accept the criticism.
He told the 15 members seated around the Council's horseshoe panel that the findings must be deeply embarrassing to us all; the inquiry committee has ripped away the curtain and shone a harsh light into the most unsightly corners of our organization.
At a news conference at the Roosevelt Hotel, Mr. Volcker was unsparing in his criticism. Our assignment has been to look for mis- or maladministration in the oil-for-food program and for evidence of corruption within the U.N. organization and by contractors, he said. Unhappily, we found both.
Wednesday's 847-page report excoriated Mr. Annan and the Council for their management of the program and said the United Nations must be extensively overhauled if it is to earn global credibility and meet 21st century demands.
The organization requires stronger executive leadership, thoroughgoing administrative reform and more reliable controls and auditing, it said. At stake, it said, was the United Nations' ability to respond promptly and effectively to the responsibilities thrust upon it by the realities of a turbulent, and often violent, world.
Endorsing the harsh prescription, Mr. Annan asked, Who among us can now claim that U.N. management is not a problem, or is not in need of reform?
Mr. Volcker said responsibility for the program's lapses must be broadly shared, starting, we believe, with member states and the Security Council itself.
The report blamed the Security Council and its sanctions committee for tolerating smuggling that went on outside the oil-for-food program. Turning a blind eye to smuggling, it stated, surely undercut a sense of discipline in conducting the program.
John R. Bolton, the United States ambassador, said shortcomings in the program provided a catalyst for change but said some countries were in a state of denial about the need for it.
The report unambiguously rejects the notion that 'business as usual' at the U.N. is fine, he said. We need to reform the U.N. in a manner that will prevent another oil-for-food scandal. The credibility of the U.N. depends on it.
The four-volume report examined in detail the history, conduct and unraveling of the scandal-tainted $64 billion program, which was intended to ease the effects of sanctions on Iraq by supplying food and medicines in exchange for letting the government export oil. It made recommendations for tightening up financial and management practices to make the United Nations accountable, transparent and efficient.
It faulted Mr. Annan for not curbing the corruption and shoddy administration of the program, but said it had found no evidence to support charges that he influenced a contract awarded to Cotecna Inspection Services, the Swiss company where his son Kojo Annan had worked.
It rejected claims in an e-mail message that surfaced this June written by an executive of the company who said he had discussed the contract with the secretary general in Paris in 1998.
Mr. Volcker said that after investigating the claim and interviewing all the principals, the committee concluded that the executive, Michael Wilson, was probably making an idle boast to make himself seem important. The extent of their meeting, the committee said, was a shouted hello across a hotel corridor.
The report said the secretary general should been more diligent in investigating the activities of his son and the possibilities of conflict of interest that they posed. Mr. Annan said he accepted that judgment and deeply regretted not pursuing the matter at the time.
The committee said that while it found no evidence that Kofi Annan knew about the contract, it did uncover instances where Kojo Annan tried to influence it with calls to the United Nations procurement office.
The oil-for-food program scandal has deeply undermined the reputation of Mr. Annan and brought calls from Republican lawmakers in Washington for his resignation.
Asked about that possibility on Wednesday, Mr. Annan said, I don't anticipate anyone to resign. We are carrying on with our work. His term continues until the end of 2006.
The report was released only a week before more than 170 presidents and prime ministers are scheduled to take up the issue of reforming the United Nations at a summit meeting to update the principles and goals of the millennium declaration of 2000.