Eight former US ambassadors to the United Nations have urged the US Congress to reject legislation that would dock payments to the world body unless specific reform plans were enacted.
The ambassadors, in a letter to Republican and Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives and the Senate, said withholding US dues would be counter-productive, create resentment, build animosity "and actually strengthen opponents of reform."
The letter was signed by Madeleine Albright, John Danforth, Richard Holbrooke, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Donald McHenry, Thomas Pickering, Bill Richardson and Andrew Young.
Danforth, Kirkpatrick and Pickering served under Republican administrations, the other five under Democratic presidents.
Two former living UN ambassadors were not asked to sign by organisers of the appeal, The Better World Campaign, a non-profit advocacy group. It did not ask former President George H.W. Bush, because his son is US president, and John Negroponte, the national intelligence director, because he still holds a government post.
Rep. Henry Hyde, the Illinois Republican, who heads the House International Relations Committee, has proposed a bill that demands a range of reforms, some of which would have to be approved by all 191 UN members. If they are not enacted, the measure requires the United States to dock up to 50 per cent of its payments.
The bill is expected to be put to a vote in the House on Thursday. So far the Bush administration opposes it and there is no companion measure in the Senate, which would have to approve.
The ambassadors' letter recalled the last time Congress withheld UN dues in the 1990s, which took years to resolve and almost cost the United States its vote in the UN General Assembly.
"The need for United Nations reform is clear and there is now unprecedented consensus and commitment to action at the UN and around the world," the ambassadors said. "However, withholding US dues to the UN threatens to undermine our leadership and effectiveness at the UN and the reform effort itself."
Hyde, however, argues that without a financial threat, reform would not be possible. The United States is the single largest payer to the United Nations, with 22 per cent of the administrative budget and 27 per cent of peacekeeping costs.