Rich and Poor Nations Gird for Clash on UN Reforms 
By Reuters
April 27, 2006
The New York Times
Original Source: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-un-reform.html

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Developing nations and rich countries face off on Thursday on Secretary-General Kofi Annan's plans to overhaul the bureaucracy that could precipitate a cut in funds to the United Nations this summer.
At issue is one of Annan's proposals that requests authority for him to move staff and resources around without prior approval from a powerful General Assembly committee that controls the budget.
Fearing its members would lose influence and jobs, some 132 developing nations, known as the Group of 77, have drafted a resolution making clear their opposition and calling on Annan to provide a detailed report on his restructuring plans.
Backing Annan, wealthy nations oppose the resolution, saying it would delay or kill key management reforms and have threatened to cut off funds to the United Nations on June 30.
Negotiations on the measure lasted until late on Wednesday but no agreement was reached.
If the resolution is put to a vote at a meeting of the budget committee on Thursday, the developing nations will win as they constitute a majority of U.N. members as well the world's population.
``We do not accept that in order for the secretary-general to carry out his duties, this should be accompanied by denying the majority of member states the right to pronounce on the administration of the United Nations,'' South African Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo, chairman of the Group of 77, told a news conference on Wednesday. 
POLARIZATION
The United States and others have tied progress on management reforms to approval of refinancing the U.N. budget on June 30, following a bitter fight in December that led to a new polarization between rich and poor countries.
``Let's be clear, we don't fear a vote. We don't fear Congress and the American people seeing what the situation is up here,'' U.S. Ambassador John Bolton told reporters.
``It's time for reform of management, it's time for a reform of programs,'' Bolton said. ``That's what we're after and those that stand in the way of it need to understand that our purpose has not changed.''
Annan last month introduced a 33-page blueprint on overhauling the U.N. bureaucracy, in part an outcome of scandals in the now-defunct oil-for-food program for Iraq.
He sought more financial oversight, simplified hiring and firing procedures, career planning, staff buyouts, a modern information system as well as flexibility in assigning staff and resources. The changes are estimated to cost $500 million.
Annan suggested the General Assembly's workload be divided into groups of ``manageable size,'' which could then bring ''agreed recommendations'' before the full budget committee.
The wealthy nations do not want any final decisions now on Annan's plans but prefer to wait for detailed reports he promised in May and June and then again in September.
Opposing the resolution are Japan, the 25-nation European Union, Canada, New Zealand and Australia as well as the United States, who collectively pay over 80 percent of the budget.
But Kumalo argued that every country was assessed by its ability to pay and for many poor nations, the dues were a burden.
He said that the U.N. bureaucracy Annan ran was already dominated by rich countries. ``Their influence on the secretariat is enormous, ranging from all the key positions that they occupy,'' he said.
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