SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS UNITED STATES ARREARS SITUATION LOOKS GRIM
Press Release
SG/SM/6763
SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS UNITED STATES ARREARS SITUATION LOOKS GRIM
19981021 Following is the text of a statement by Secretary-General Kofi Annan issued today by his Spokesman's Office following the failure of the United States to include funding for United Nations arrears in its budget agreement:Let me say first how pleased I am that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) funding has been agreed to. Replenishing the IMF's lending capacity is an essential first step if the contagion effect of the global financial crisis is to be arrested, as it must be for all our sakes.
It also appears that the budget bill will provide funds for the current fiscal year sufficient for the United States to avoid losing its General Assembly vote under Article 19.
Unfortunately, on the matter of arrears the situation looks grim. Despite the extensive reforms we have undertaken -- the most thoroughgoing in our 53-year history -- and despite the many promises that have been made to us, the Congress and the Administration once again failed to honour America's legal commitment and moral obligation to the United Nations and its 184 other Member States by paying even a portion of its long-standing debt.
I find this outcome truly disturbing: disturbing for the United Nations; and disturbing for the standing of the United States in the United Nations. We are at a moment in history when leadership is vital. This failure by the United States to honour its contract with the rest of the world does not make that challenge any easier.
The United States needs an effective United Nations, and the United Nations needs an engaged United States. Therefore, we hope that when the Congress reconvenes, the appropriate compromises will be struck so as to put this mutually divisive and damaging issue behind us once and for all, enabling us to get on with the pressing business of serving the world's people.
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