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Blair backs Annan: 'the secretary general is doing a good job'
 Tony Blair will this week throw his weight behind the embattled United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, after a report castigated the UN for mismanaging billions of pounds in the oil-for-food programme for Iraq. The Prime Minister and Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, will appear alongside Mr Annan at a day-long seminar in London's Banqueting Hall on Thursday to discuss UN reforms. The joint appearance will be seen as a powerful gesture of British endorsement for Mr Annan in the face of calls from US Congressmen for him to resign because of the oil-for-food (OFF) scandal. "We fully support Kofi Annan as secretary general. The Prime Minister has made clear that the secretary general is doing a good job," said a Downing Street spokesman. Mr Blair appears to have decided that Mr Annan should be supported in trying to overhaul the UN bureaucracy along the lines suggested by a panel of "wise men" last year. This includes admitting more permanent members of the Security Council and drawing up a common definition of terrorism.Posted by: Bulldog 2005-02-08 |
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