Week of UN frustrations for White House

After weeks of trying to rally consensus over UN reform and Iran’s nuclear programme, the Bush administration has had an unusually frus...

After weeks of trying to rally consensus over UN reform and Iran’s nuclear programme, the Bush administration has had an unusually frustrating week, rebuffed by key partners and also by a coalition of poor countries increasingly resentful of American power.

India and Russia have balked, despite personal appeals by US President George W. Bush, at supporting a vote at the International Atomic Energy Agency’s board meeting next week to refer Iran to the UN Security Council. Other countries outside the US-EU ambit are also swayed by Iran’s contention that it has done nothing that violates international treaties on nuclear energy, except fail to disclose elements of its programme, and that inspections have no proof that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons.

Six weeks ago, a European official said Europe and the US felt that these countries would line up with the West on the atomic energy board. Now, they are not so sure.

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A similar rebellion appears to have thwarted changes sought at the UN. US officials insist they are pleased with some of the resolutions adopted by the General Assembly this week, notably a broad definition of terrorism. They also say they tried to address the wishes of the developing world by agreeing at the last minute to endorse specific goals to increase foreign aid.

But when it came to adopting stringent budgetary changes at the UN—cementing fiscal and personnel authority with the Secretariat under Kofi Annan and taking some of it away from the General Assembly—the votes were not there. Neither was there enough support to scrap the UN Human Rights Commission and replace it with a council that would not be led by countries like Sudan or Cuba, which the United States and its allies consider bad actors in the human rights sphere.

‘‘The way the UN is run, the vast number of less developed countries sitting in the General Assembly hold the power of the purse,’’ a UN diplomat said. ‘‘A lot of them see giving more authority to the secretary general as a ploy by the US and the Europeans to take more control of the UN.’’ —NYT

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