US raises pressure on UN to change

UNITED NATIONS -- The United States is forcing a showdown over reforms at the United Nations by refusing to accept a two-year $3.6 billion UN budget and warning that Congress could ultimately withhold dues -- about 22 percent of the body's income -- if the budget is adopted by the end of the year without US approval.

''What Secretary Rice called for was a lasting revolution of reform," US Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said yesterday. ''A lasting revolution takes a lot more work than we've accomplished so far."

Bolton, an outspoken critic of the UN, has suggested adopting an interim three-month budget that would keep the pressure on for a package of changes. He argues that allowing the two-year budget to be adopted by the Dec. 31 deadline would let the world body avoid making serious changes until 2008. The United States is seeking changes that include ending outdated programs, granting the secretary general more power to hire and fire staff, and creating an ethics office.

The ambitious package was the focus of a summit of world leaders in September. But there has been little agreement on the nature and scope of the changes.

Bolton's position has prompted round-the-clock negotiations and led to a bitter stalemate with some of the closest US allies.

The European Union opposes Bolton's move, saying that it would cripple vital UN operations.

''As much as we agree with the reform effort, we do not support the tactic of using the budget as a weapon," said one EU diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the negotiations. ''Management reform is a long-term thing. You won't get it done in a couple of months. We have to have a UN that is operational in order to get the reform done."

A US official who closely follows the negotiations said yesterday that the United States would react favorably if the EU proposed a one-year budget, along with a statement supporting reform. The official and a European diplomat said that the one-year proposal was being discussed, but so far the EU has insisted publicly on passing the customary two-year budget.

So has the 77-nation bloc of developing countries, which see some of the proposals -- like changes in hiring and the budget process -- as an assault on their power to make decisions on spending.

The US official said the 191 UN members could vote to pass the two-year budget anyway, ''but Congress will just say: 'We are not going to pay for that.' "

US Representative Henry Hyde, an Illinois Republican who chairs the House Committee on International Relations, introduced a bill this year that would automatically cut off 50 percent of US funding for the UN if progress on reform is not achieved in three dozen specific areas.

Speaking last month at Wingate University in North Carolina, Bolton said that Hyde's plan was just one of several ideas on how to tie US contributions to reform.

''We prefer to give the secretary of state discretion on whether to reduce the US contribution," he said.

And in a speech this month at Yale, according to the Yale Daily News, Bolton said the United States should choose which UN programs to support.

A US financial boycott would seriously constrain UN operations. Washington pays 22 percent of the total UN administrative budget, which this year was about $2 billion, plus additional money for peacekeeping and voluntarily funded programs.

Bolton's aggressive tactics have led some diplomats to accuse him of adopting a ''winner-take-all" attitude, which they say is hindering agreement.

''We generally don't comment on other delegations' performance, but it just does not help to alienate people or to have take-it-or-leave-it positions. The UN is about alliances," said the European diplomat.

In recent weeks, Bolton has clashed publicly with the top UN human rights official over her criticism of the United States and the Algerian ambassador, who refused to support a Security Council statement condemning an Islamic group for a bombing in Israel, according to public comments.

He also exchanged terse words numerous times with the British ambassador at a Security Council meeting over the British reluctance to take a tougher stance toward Syria, according to two diplomats who were present.

But Bolton's supporters say his blunt language is just what the ossified UN system needs.

''We are not going to play the etiquette game," said Bolton's spokesman, Richard Grenell. ''The American people pay billions of dollars here. They don't ask us to come to the Upper East Side of New York and play the etiquette game. They ask us to advance the US foreign policy at the UN."

Bolton's outspoken criticisms of the UN and allegations that he sought to punish intelligence analysts who disagreed with his assessments resulted in a contentious Senate confirmation battle over his appointment this spring. He was never confirmed. But President Bush named him to the post by using a recess appointment. Bolton can only serve through the end of next year.

Bolton wants the UN to set up an ethics office and establish a new human rights council that would exclude offenders like Cuba and Zimbabwe. He also wants to break the General Assembly's hold over the UN budget by giving the secretary general more authority over spending and staffing. And he wants UN hiring based on merit.

Yesterday, State Department officials announced in Washington that an agreement had been reached on one key area -- the establishment of a peace building commission, an advisory body that would help the Security Council prevent countries from relapsing into war. But they made clear that the reform effort had a long way to go, and that management and financial changes are the most important.

''Despite heads-of-state-level endorsement of the reforms in September and many months of discussion, we have not seen an adequate commitment in New York to move forward on them," said Kristen Silverberg, assistant secretary of state for International Organization Affairs.

Lauria reported from New York; Stockman from Washington, D.C.