Terrorism, Mideast Key Issues in '06, Annan Says

UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 21 -- Terrorism and Middle East conflicts will be major global issues in 2006, Secretary General Kofi Annan said at a year-end news conference Wednesday. He also lashed out at the media for their coverage of the oil-for-food program.

Annan said he faces getting tough management reform proposals through the General Assembly and trying to solve the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

But he said he expects terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and the Middle East -- the slayings in Lebanon, the Israel-Palestinian conflict and the war in Iraq -- to be "a major issue for us."

Annan castigated what he called unfair media coverage of his role and that of his son, Kojo, in the United Nations' now-defunct oil-for-food program in Iraq.

He scolded James Bone of the Times of London for telling him, "Your own version of events don't really make sense."

Annan responded: "I think you're being very cheeky. Listen, James Bone -- you've been behaving like an overgrown schoolboy in this room for many, many months and years. You are an embarrassment to your colleagues and to your profession. Please stop misbehaving and please let's move on to a serious subject."

Annan said not enough weight was given to bribes and oil smuggling outside of the $64 billion program, recently documented by a U.N.-established inquiry, headed by former Federal Reserve chairman Paul A. Volcker.

"We all have to be careful, whatever responsibilities we have, not to be fed by people with agendas," Annan said.

Asked again if he bought a Mercedes tax-free for his son with his diplomatic discount, Annan said: "I know you are all obsessed about the car. If you want to know more about it, please address yourself to my son or his lawyer."

"I am neither his spokesman or his lawyer," he said. "The report of Paul Volcker is clear. I am not going to rehash it."