UN: US pressure has prompted a UN agency to scrap a report on freedom and governance in the Arab world whose sections on Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict angered Washington, the lead author said yesterday.
Mr Nader Fergani, leading a team writing the latest Arab Human Development Report, said the UN Development Programme was not expected to print the report under its own name due to US threats to cut a chunk of its $100 million funding to the UNDP.
"My understanding is that the UNDP will not publish it under its logo, but they will not prevent it from being published under the names of the authors," Mr Fergani said, adding that the authors hoped to publish it at the end of January. "It seems that the pressure that was put on the UNDP [ by the US and Egyptian governments] was too heavy to bear," he said.
Mr Fergani earlier said Washington was unhappy with sections on the US presence in Iraq and the activities of its ally Israel in the Palestinian areas.
He had also said Egypt objected to parts calling for freedom of expression and association in the Arab world.
US officials have denied trying to suppress the report, which was due to come out in October. But UN officials previously said parts were being rewritten after the US and some Arab governments asked for changes.