UN Chief Of Staff Heading To Washington For Talks With Lawmakers; Deputy Resigns
In the wake of an independent panel's interim report on the United Nations' handling of the Oil-for-Food programme for
Iraq, Secretary General Kofi Annan's new chief of staff is scheduled to visit Washington tomorrow for talks with
Congressional leaders involved with investigations and international relations.
Among those Mark Malloch Brown is to meet are Senators Norm Coleman and Carl Levin, the Republican chairman and ranking
Democrat, respectively, of the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, and Representatives Henry Hyde and Tom
Lantos of the House International Relations Committee, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard told journalists at the daily briefing
in New York.
"This is a follow-up to the interim report by [former US Federal Reserve Board Chairman] Paul Volcker's [Independent
Inquiry] Committee. It is to report to the US lawmakers what the United Nations has done in recent years to reform its
administrative and management practices," the spokesman said in reply to a question.
Despite recent reforms, the report, released last week, raised questions about UN management practices concerning the
multi-billion dollar humanitarian operation, which permitted the sanctions-bound regime in Baghdad to purchase relief
supplies with oil revenues.
Mr. Eckhard said he thought "any lawmaker anywhere in the world" would like a briefing on what the UN, under Mr. Annan,
had been doing quietly over the years, such as reforming the procurement, personnel and budget processes.
Senator Coleman has previously called for Mr. Annan's resignation in connection with the US Senate's investigation into
the Oil-for-Food programme. At the time Mr. Eckhard said the Secretary-General had turned over all documents and made
available all UN staff to the Volcker panel.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Chef de Cabinet, UN veteran Elisabeth Lindenmayer, has resigned.
"Ms. Lindenmayer served the United Nations with exceptional loyalty, competence and diligence since 1977," Mr. Annan
said in a statement, saying he accepted her decision "with sadness."
He was deeply grateful for her unstinting support and her steadfast commitment to the principles of the UN Charter, Mr.
Annan said, and he knew that her many friends throughout the UN family and around the world joined him in wishing her
all the best in the years to come.