Скачать или смотреть USA: DUES: SENATE AGREES TO PAY $869M TO THE UN

(23 Jun 1999) English/Nat

The Senate gave near-unanimous approval on Tuesday to legislation to pay nearly (U-S) 1 (b) billion dollars of the U-S's long-standing debt to the United Nations.

The approval, however, is conditioned on a reduction in future U-S contributions.

The U-S share of the annual U-N budget will be reduced from 25 to 20 percent.

U-N Secretary-General Kofi Annan is said to have welcomed the Senate's approval of the bill.

The United States has been late on its payments for the past 13 years.

On a 98-1 tally, the Senate approved on Tuesday a U-S State Department bill that will reduce the maximum U-S share of the regular U-N budget from the present 25 percent to 20 percent.

It will also drop the U-S share of peacekeeping operations from 31 percent to 25 percent.

In exchange, the bill will free payments of 819 (m) million US dollars of debt to the United Nations over three years.

The United Nations had previously warned the United States that it would lose its General Assembly voting rights if at least 250 (m) million dollars of the back dues weren't paid by December.

The United States has been late paying its dues for the past 13 years.

Republicans have long called for reducing the U-S share of maintaining the United Nations.

But with the Clinton administration now also supporting the plan, Democrats registered
only token opposition.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Let me just say at the outset that important U-S interests, I think, are undermined by
our continued failure to pay what we owe to the United Nations and its affiliated agencies. And I know that the chairman and ranking member are trying to search for a solution to this problem and I respect their efforts I just don't think they have gone far enough along the important path."
SUPER CAPTION: Senator Paul Sarbanes, Democrat, Maryland

Senator Sarbanes believes that by adding more conditions to overdue funds, the Senate is wasting the United States' political leverage.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"By refusing to meet our legal obligations, while continually issuing new demands we are wasting our own influence, damaging our credibility and international respect and engendering resistance to the reforms we seek and complicating the U-N's ability to do its duties in a timely and effective manner. In my view we should pay our arrears promptly, in full and without additional conditions."
SUPER CAPTION: Senator Paul Sarbanes, Democrat, Maryland

Republican Jesse Helms who characterized the 185-nation body as a dysfunctional organization said he would not give in.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Let me be candid, I'm not in the mood to give away the store and I haven't given it away regarding the United Nations yet. It remains to be seen whether the reforms, that both of us have been demanding, have been in place early enough for this proposition, which I will discuss in just a minute, take place."
SUPER CAPTION: Senator Jesse Helms, Republican, South Carolina

The United Nations in the past has opposed efforts to trim the U-S share.

The payments will go both towards U-N accounts and reimbursing allies for part of their costs of participating in U-N peacekeeping operations.

But the central issue for the Senators was still reform.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"The bill includes a United Nations reform package. Now this is not something that we will lay on the table and say we'll do someday. Its going to be done now. The United Nations is going to be reformed now or there is going to be trouble ahead."
SUPER CAPTION: Senator Jesse Helms, Republican, South Carolina



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