UN member states support Annan, reject resignation call

By: Nabil Raza

UNITED NATIONS: United Nations member states voiced support for Secretary-General Kofi Annan after a US senator called for him to step down over the UN role in Iraqi oil sales under Saddam.

The US State Department endorsed a Senate investigation of the troubled Iraq oil-for-food program but sidestepped the issue of Annan's future.

Sen. Norm Coleman, who is leading one of five US congressional investigations into the program, wrote in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal that Annan should step down because “the most extensive fraud in the history of the UN occurred on his watch.”

The Minnesota Republican joined several US newspapers and columnists in urging that Annan be replaced.

Outside of Coleman's call, the secretary-general appears to retain wide support among the 191 UN member states that elected him to a second five-year term in 2001.

Russia, Britain, Chile, Spain and other nations on the UN Security Council strongly backed Annan in recent days, as did non-council members. The 54 African nations sent a letter of support.

Annan also got strong support at a meeting Wednesday with the ambassadors of Argentina, Algeria, Colombia, Egypt, Italy, Mexico, Morocco, Pakistan, South Korea, Spain and Turkey.

END