THE UN: The United Nations has rejected a US senator's call for the resignation of Secretary General Mr Kofi Annan, saying no country had asked him to step down and 2,700 UN staff members had signed a letter of support.
Minnesota Republican Senator Mr Norm Coleman, who is leading one of five US congressional investigations into the UN oil-for-food programme in Iraq, wrote in the Wall Street Journal that Mr Annan should step down because "the most extensive fraud in the history of the UN occurred on his watch".
US President George Bush yesterday called for a "full and open" accounting of the oil-for-food programme, but would not say whether he thought Mr Annan should resign.
"I look forward to the full disclosure of the facts, get an honest appraisal of that which went on. And it's important for the integrity of the organisation to have a full and open disclosure of all that took place with the oil-for-food programme," said Mr Bush.
Mr Annan appears to retain wide support among the 191 UN member-states. Russia, Britain, Chile, Spain and other nations on the UN Security Council strongly backed Mr Annan in recent days.
The allegations of corruption in the programme, which first surfaced in January, have embarrassed Mr Annan and taken the spotlight off his agenda.
Two weeks ago, Senator Coleman's Permanent Sub-committee on Investigations said it had uncovered evidence that Saddam Hussein's government raised more than $11.8 billion in illegal revenue by subverting UN sanctions against Iraq.
On Monday, Mr Annan said he was "very disappointed and surprised" that his son, Kojo, received payments until February from a firm that had a contract with the programme.
The Swiss-based firm Cotecna Inspection SA, said he was paid $1,388 a month to prevent him for working for any competitors in Africa after he left the company at the end of 1998.
Mr Annan said he understood "the perception problem for the UN, or the perception of conflict of interests and wrongdoing". But he reiterated that he had never been involved in granting contracts, to Cotecna or anyone else.
The Secretary General appointed former US Federal Reserve chief Mr Paul Volcker to head an independent inquiry into the programme.
He handed over all UN documents and ordered UN officials to co-operate.