Annan Backs Deputy in Dispute With U.S.

Serbian President Boris Tadic, left, shakes hands with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, at U.N. headquarters in New York, Thursday, June 8, 2006. (AP Photo/Shiho Fukada) (Shiho Fukada - AP)

UNITED NATIONS -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan defended his top deputy Thursday from sharp U.S. criticism about a speech that faulted Washington's attitude toward the United Nations.

Annan told reporters the thrust of the speech from Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown was that the United States and the United Nations need each other. He also warned the U.S. against abandoning efforts to reform the world body because of the remarks.

"If one is going to use the argument that 'I'm not satisfied with reform and I'm going to close down the shop,' they will have lots of explanation to do, not just in this building but to the people out there," Annan said.

Malloch Brown's speech to a conference on Tuesday was a rare direct rebuke of the top financial contributor to the U.N. He said the United States relies on the U.N. diplomatically but refuses to defend it before its critics at home.

"Much of the public discourse that reaches the U.S. heartland has been largely abandoned to its loudest detractors such as Rush Limbaugh and Fox News," Malloch Brown said.

The next day, Bolton called the speech a "very, very grave mistake." In remarks that were unusually strong even for the outspoken diplomat, Bolton ominously warned that the speech threatened the organization itself.

In a speech in London on Thursday, Bolton repeated his belief that Malloch Brown's comment could wreak havoc on efforts to reform the U.N. He called the remarks a "classic political mistake and I don't think we've seen the end of the consequences."

The back and forth highlighted the often tense relationship between the United States and the U.N., which was seriously strained after the U.N. Security Council refused to back the Iraq war in 2003.

The relationship has been further strained since the arrival last year of Bolton, a blunt advocate for U.S. interests who has a penchant for eschewing diplomatic language and speaking plainly about his belief that the United Nations desperately needs reform.

That has sometimes alienated other U.N. ambassadors and some U.N. officials, who have said they do not help the reform effort. In an interview with USA Today, Malloch Brown himself said Bolton was "a real force here, but in a way that provokes a lot of reaction and opposition from others."

That tension has been made clear as member states wrestle with proposals to overhaul the way the U.N. is run by giving him more power to make financial decisions and hire and fire staff.

Rich nations including the United States back those reforms, while developing nations that only pay a tiny portion of the U.N. budget are opposed.