The United States demanded Wednesday that U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan explain why he overruled an internal finding that the world body's refugee chief sexually harassed a female employee. The U.N. watchdog agency had found that refugee chief Ruud Lubbers, a former Dutch prime minister, harassed the 51-year-old American woman last year. It recommended "appropriate action" be taken. But after reviewing the evidence, Annan concluded that the allegations did not hold up and said Lubbers would not be punished.
In a statement to the U.N. administrative budget committee, Tom Repasch, a U.S. adviser to the U.N. General Assembly, asked Annan to explain the contradiction. "On the one hand, the investigation found the allegations to be true, on the other hand the secretary-general believed the evidence did not substantiate them and closed the matter," Repasch said later. "We just need more information." U.S. Ambassador John Danforth said the discrepancy between the report's findings and Annan's decision begged clarification. "It's not something that I think would be just out of the blue to say that there is a difference between the conclusions made in the investigation and the conclusions reached by the secretary-general," Danforth said. "We don't understand the basis for that disjuncture, and we'd be interested in learning more." Annan spokesman Fred Eckhard had no immediate comment on the U.S. demand.
| "We will say no more! And we wish you'd go away." |
Lubbers was traveling in Spain and unavailable for comment. His spokesman in Geneva, Ron Redmond, said the refugee chief stood by comments he made to The Associated Press last week, when he called the report by the Office of Internal Oversight Services "miserable" and "not well-founded." He insisted that he had been cleared by Annan. Lubbers said in a statement in May that the case was filed April 27 and related to a Dec. 18, 2003, meeting in his office that also was attended by five other staff members. He had acknowledged making "a friendly gesture with his tongue," which he said the woman misunderstood.
"And just how friendly was that gesture?"
"Very friendly!" |
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