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UN Overhaul?
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/e622c35a-6...ntool_nbe_poapp_printedn_psapp_reg,s01=2.html
[/quote]UN warned to get ready for sweeping reforms
By Mark Turner at the United Nations
Published: January 17 2005 02:00 | Last updated: January 17 2005 02:00
The man appointed to oversee a management shake-up at the United Nations has warned that it must brace itself for wide-ranging reform amid criticism that extends beyond the ranks of the American right.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Mark Malloch Brown warned the UN that there could be worse to come and that its management would feel the consequences from an investigation into allegations of corruption in the "oil-for-food" programme, which the UN administered for Iraq.
"The crisis is still building," Mr Malloch Brown said. "It's very hard after [last] week's revelations to believe there isn't going to be some pretty tough stuff on management."
Paul Volcker, a former US Federal Reserve chairman who is leading the UN inquiry into the charges, last week criticised the UN for its limited response to internal audits showing irregularities in the $65bn (50bn, £35bn) programme.
Some Republican US politicians have recently brought the current crisis of confidence to a head by demanding the resignation of Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general.
However, Mr Malloch Brown warned that it was no longer only the institution's traditional, conservative critics that were calling for a shake-up.
Mr Volcker also claimed the volume of allegations surrounding the former head of the Office for the Iraq Programme, Benon Sevan, suggested there must have been some "monkey business".
"It was possible to see the first wave of the crisis as inspired by the US critics of the UN, but as a clearly neutral voice like Volcker starts to opine as he did in the commentary of the audit, it's a lot harder to shrug this off as a rightwing conspiracy," Mr Malloch Brown said.
At the end of January, Mr Volcker will issue his preliminary findings. "That may be a transition point," Mr Malloch Brown said, "where people realise that banging [on about] the need for management reform is not [just] responding to Republicans in shoe-boxes on the belt-way.
...[/quote]
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/e622c35a-6...ntool_nbe_poapp_printedn_psapp_reg,s01=2.html
[/quote]UN warned to get ready for sweeping reforms
By Mark Turner at the United Nations
Published: January 17 2005 02:00 | Last updated: January 17 2005 02:00
The man appointed to oversee a management shake-up at the United Nations has warned that it must brace itself for wide-ranging reform amid criticism that extends beyond the ranks of the American right.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Mark Malloch Brown warned the UN that there could be worse to come and that its management would feel the consequences from an investigation into allegations of corruption in the "oil-for-food" programme, which the UN administered for Iraq.
"The crisis is still building," Mr Malloch Brown said. "It's very hard after [last] week's revelations to believe there isn't going to be some pretty tough stuff on management."
Paul Volcker, a former US Federal Reserve chairman who is leading the UN inquiry into the charges, last week criticised the UN for its limited response to internal audits showing irregularities in the $65bn (50bn, £35bn) programme.
Some Republican US politicians have recently brought the current crisis of confidence to a head by demanding the resignation of Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general.
However, Mr Malloch Brown warned that it was no longer only the institution's traditional, conservative critics that were calling for a shake-up.
Mr Volcker also claimed the volume of allegations surrounding the former head of the Office for the Iraq Programme, Benon Sevan, suggested there must have been some "monkey business".
"It was possible to see the first wave of the crisis as inspired by the US critics of the UN, but as a clearly neutral voice like Volcker starts to opine as he did in the commentary of the audit, it's a lot harder to shrug this off as a rightwing conspiracy," Mr Malloch Brown said.
At the end of January, Mr Volcker will issue his preliminary findings. "That may be a transition point," Mr Malloch Brown said, "where people realise that banging [on about] the need for management reform is not [just] responding to Republicans in shoe-boxes on the belt-way.
...[/quote]
