UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan accepted today corruption allegations in the Iraqi oil-for-food program had cast a shadow over the United Nations but said again he would not resign.
To meet criticism in the Republican-dominated US Congress that the United Nations was withholding documents, Mr Annan said a UN probe led by Mr Paul Volcker, the former US Federal Reserve chairman, would produce an interim report by the end of January and release internal audit reports at that time.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
"The US needs the UN and the UN needs the US - and we have to find a way of working together," he said at an end-of-year news conference.
Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iraqi documents show kickbacks, surcharges and bribes during the defunct $64 billion program, begun in 1996 to ease the impact of UN sanctions.
Iraq was allowed to sell oil to buy food, medicine and a host of civilian goods under the program, administered by the United Nations and supervised by the 15-member Security Council, including the United States.
"There is no doubt that this has been a particularly difficult year and I am relieved that this annus horribilis is coming to an end," Mr Annan said.
"The allegations over the oil-for-food program have cast a shadow over an operation that brought relief to millions of Iraqis," he said. "We must find out the truth as soon as possible."
But Mr Annan said he intended to complete the remaining two years of his ten-year term and not resign, as some US legislators demanded. "I have the confidence and support of the member states," he said.
The secretary-general said no one in the Bush administration had supported calls for him to step down.
The scandal has hit the United Nations as Mr Annan was pushing widespread reforms on meeting global threats, cutting dire poverty in half and reversing the threat of AIDS.
Mr Annan also rebuffed his 31-year-old son, Kojo, under investigation for having not revealing his full relationship with a firm that ran UN goods inspections in Iraq.
The younger Annan, who had worked in West Africa for the Swiss company, Cotecna, has called the allegations "a witch hunt" and part of a broader Republican agenda.
Most of the corruption revealed so far involves illegal transfers or smuggling of oil, which the Security Council, including the United States, knew about. But investigations are looking into whether any UN employees received bribes from Iraq and whether goods contracts were inflated.