US furious after UN criticism

The United Nations’ second highest-ranking official yesterday accused the US government of leaving Americans in the dark about the world body’s good works, a rare direct criticism that drew an angry response yesterday from US Ambassador John Bolton.

Bolton called Tuesday's speech by Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown a “very, very grave mistake” that could undermine Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s efforts to push through an ambitious reform agenda at the world body.

He demanded that Annan repudiate the remarks, and even suggested that the fate of the organisation itself might be at stake.

“I spoke to the secretary-general this morning, I said: 'I’ve known you since 1989 and I’m telling you this is the worst mistake by a senior UN official that I have seen in that entire time',” Bolton told reporters yesterday.

Later yesterday, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Annan stood by Malloch Brown’s speech.

Malloch Brown then met reporters and said the thrust of his speech was that the United Nations cannot function well without the US playing a central role.

Malloch Brown described the speech as a calculated effort to spur the UN reform process, which has bogged down in a clash for power between poor and rich nations. That could lead to financial trouble because member states imposed a six-month budget cap that ends in June and can only be lifted if they see reform.

“You have to engage to help make this institution a better institution,” Malloch Brown told reporters. “And you need to engage, if I dare say so, with your own public opinion to explain better why the UN matters to American interests.”

In the speech, Malloch Brown said the US relies on the United Nations as a diplomatic tool but does not defend it against criticism at home. That policy of ”stealth diplomacy” is unsustainable, he said.

While praising US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her predecessors, Malloch Brown lamented that the good works of the UN are ignored.

“Much of the public discourse that reaches the US heartland has been largely abandoned to its loudest detractors such as Rush Limbaugh and Fox News,” he said, referring to the conservative radio commentator and cable television news station that have been sharp critics of UN scandals.

“The UN’s role is in effect a secret in Middle America even as it is highlighted in the Middle East and other parts of the world,” Malloch Brown said.

US officials, including Bolton, said they were especially upset that Malloch Brown mentioned ”Middle America”.

Bolton said Malloch Brown’s “condescending, patronising tone about the American people” was the worst part about the speech.

“Fundamentally and very sadly, this was a criticism of the American people, not the American government, by an international civil servant,” Bolton said. “It’s just illegitimate.”

The dispute underscored the difficult relationship between the UN and the US in recent years. That ”unhappy marriage”, as Malloch Brown called it, was strained by the Security Council’s refusal to back the invasion of Iraq, scandals involving sexual abuse by UN peacekeepers, and fraud and corruption by officials involved in the UN oil-for-food program.

A Gallup Poll in March found that 64% of Americans think the United Nations is doing a poor job, but the vast majority still want the UN to play an important role in international affairs. The findings reflected the lowest ever US opinion of the United Nations.

Malloch Brown’s speech was delivered at a conference sponsored by two think tanks, the Centre for American Progress and The Century Foundation. Malloch Brown called it a “sincere and constructive critique of US policy toward the UN by a friend and admirer”.

It was a rare instance of a senior UN official directly and openly criticising a member state.

Malloch Brown used the speech to defend UN peacekeeping missions in 18 places around the globe. He criticised the US for voting against the creation of a new Human Rights Council. The US was joined by just three nations, with 170 countries voting for the body.

He acknowledged that the UN desperately needs an overhaul – in the Security Council, over its budget, and even the headquarters building itself, which has not been renovated for decades.

But the US tendency to criticise the United Nations and to take “maximalist positions”, rather than seeking the middle ground, has made other nations suspicious of its intentions, Malloch Brown said.

Bolton warned that Malloch Brown’s comments could undermine the very reforms that Annan wants and that the US supports.

“Even though the target of the speech was the United States, the victim, I fear, will be the United Nations,” Bolton said.