Despite U.S. Opposition, United Nations Budget Is Approved 
By http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/h/warren_hoge/index.html?inline=nyt-per \o More Articles by Warren Hoge Warren Hoge
December 23, 2007
The New York Times
Original Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/23/world/23nations.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/united_nations/index.html?inline=nyt-org \o More articles about the United Nations. UNITED NATIONS — The http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/g/general_assembly/index.html?inline=nyt-org \o More articles about General Assembly General Assembly approved a two-year budget of $4.17 billion on Saturday, with the United States casting the only vote against the measure because it included financing for a conference the United States felt would be prejudicial to http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/israel/index.html?inline=nyt-geo \o More news and information about Israel. Israel.
The vote, taken at 5:55 a.m. after days of round-the-clock negotiations, was 142 to 1.
The United States said it was forced to oppose the measure because of the insistence of the Group of 77, a powerful assemblage of 130 developing nations, that the budget provide money for a proposed conference that would be a follow-up to the 2001 World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa.
The United States walked out of the Durban meeting because it said it had become a forum for attacks on Israel.
Mark Wallace, the American ambassador for management, said the United States objected to “revisiting an event that was noxious to my country and a disgrace in the international community.”
He also said the United States was protesting the inclusion in the budget of finances for a conference that was supposed to be paid for voluntarily.
However, in another dispute with the developing-world group, the United States succeeded in gaining a last-minute restoration of full financing for an antifraud office that has exposed more than $600 million in tainted United Nations contracts and is currently investigating an additional $1 billion in suspect agreements.
The original budget proposal had called for shuttering the panel in six months, which its chief, Robert Appleton, said last week would have effectively ended its investigations.
In negotiations between 3 and 4 a.m., Mr. Wallace persuaded the Group of 77 leaders to drop language closing down the task force on June 30, 2008.
Left in the proposal was a call for an audit of the two-year-old task force’s activities in the past, a particular insistence of Singapore, which has repeatedly accused the antifraud panel of dealing unfairly with a United Nations official from its country who has been under investigation for two years.
Mr. Appleton is a former assistant United States attorney in Connecticut who served as special counsel to the inquiry led by http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/v/paul_a_volcker/index.html?inline=nyt-per \o More articles about Paul A. Volcker. Paul A. Volcker into the Iraqi oil-for-food program. The task force has gained a reputation for conducting particularly penetrating investigations at a time when the United Nations is seeking to overcome a reputation for corruption and mismanagement.
Mr. Appleton said Saturday that he was “honored and delighted” to have more time and that he was not bothered by the audit provision.
“We have no concerns about an objective and professional review of our operations, methodology and practices,” he said. He added that he expected any independent review would show that his office “not only meets but exceeds the requisite standards.”
The overall budget total was a slight reduction from the $4.2 billion figure proposed by Secretary General http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/ban_ki_moon/index.html?inline=nyt-per \o More articles about Ban Ki-moon. Ban Ki-moon in November, which represented a substantial increase over the $3.8 billion budget for 2006 and 2007 that Mr. Ban attributed to the growing demands on the organization.
Mr. Wallace said the United States was concerned that deferred items and other add-ons would take the figure higher when additional talks resumed in March. He called the Saturday agreement “an initial budget.”
In a statement, Mr. Ban welcomed the General Assembly action but expressed regret that it had not been adopted by the traditional consensus. 
He urged “all member states to return to consensus decision-making and to demonstrate a greater sense of flexibility and compromise, beyond individual national interests and in the common cause of multilateralism for the good of humankind.”