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Bugging UN chief âa traditionâ, says former boss
An article that indicates Kofiâs outrage is somewhere between disengenous and a fradulent payback against Blair and the UK. Bugging the United Nations secretary-general at his offices and home is a "tradition", former UN chief Boutros Boutros Ghali said today amid uproar over claims that Britain had bugged Kofi Annan during the run-up to the Iraq war last year. Boutros Ghali, who held the top UN job from 1992 to 1996, told the BBC those countries with the technical ability to carry out the bugging had long done so. Clare Short, international development secretary in British Prime Minister Tony Blairâs cabinet until she resigned in protest of the war, said today that she had read transcripts of Annanâs conversations. Blair termed her remarks "totally irresponsible" but refused to say whether they were true or not. The UN Secretary-Generalâs chief spokesman Fred Eckhard said today that Kofi Annan would be disappointed if Ms Shortâs allegations proved true. "We want this action to stop if indeed it has been carried out. It undermines the secretary-generalâs conduct of business with other leaders. It is therefore not good for the United Nationsâ work and it is illegal," Eckhard told reporters. Two questions: 1. Exactly what is the law that has been broken? 2. Why does the UN need to have secrets? Posted by: phil_b 2004-02-26 |
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