Word: annans
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...storm is brewing at the U.N. over just how many secret deals Secretary-General KOFI ANNAN may have made in Baghdad in order to defuse the crisis with Iraq. While Annan has insisted that he has no intention of weakening the U.N. Special Commission, the group that is tracking down SADDAM HUSSEIN's weapons, two developments this week have called UNSCOM's future effectiveness into question. First, Annan stationed a special U.N. representative in Baghdad. That will provide the Iraqis with an alternate channel of communications that may circumvent UNSCOM. Second, Annan is seriously considering a Russian proposal that...
...Kofi Annan may feel like he has the raw end of the deal Wednesday. While his appointed deputy, Jayantha Dhanapala, touches down in Baghdad to head up the diplomatic posse that will enter the long-disputed presidential palaces, the secretary general embarks on a rather riskier mission: Selling the U.N. in Washington. And Annan, ever the consummate diplomat, will be making his own pointed diplomatic gesture -- by steering well clear of Capitol Hill...
...That's hardly surprising, when Congress still sulkily refuses to pay an ever-rising U.S. debt to the U.N. -- $1.7 billion and counting. President Clinton is sending a bill to the Hill that would cover $1 billion of that -- but what Annan will want to know is whether any strings will be attached. Last year, Jesse Helms' bid to get $800 million out of his compadres was scuppered by an antiabortion rider in the House. The last thing the secretary general wants is a repeat of that farce. "Other countries in essence provide interest-free loans to cover largely American...
...Annan: [The Iraqis] are very keen to get rid of the sanctions. I made it very clear to him that the only way to do that is to cooperate with [the U.N. Special Commission] and get the job done expeditiously so that it is in their hands. Without their cooperation, it is not going to happen. They built the nation and had it destroyed and rebuilt it. So I asked him whether he wanted to destroy all these wonderful edifices, because that is what will happen...
...Annan: Not really. I used my good offices to deblock an impasse so that the arrangements we have remain intact. The reporting lines will be the same. What we need to do is to put mechanisms in place to ensure that conflicts can be resolved. Next week I'm going to appoint a special representative of the Secretary-General to have a political presence in Iraq. It's a shame I have to admit that we haven't done this. I have also mentioned to Richard Butler that within his own organization, on the ground, he should strengthen the mechanism...