The New York Times

Friday, January 21, 2000

Biden Joins Helms in Criticism of United Nations

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

UNITED NATIONS -- A day after conservative Sen. Jesse Helms upbraided the United Nations, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today joined in the criticism and said fundamental structural changes are inevitable.

"I know it, you know it, we all know it," Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., told Secretary-General Kofi Annan and other top U.N. officials.

Biden's message was far less harsh than the sharply worded one delivered Thursday by Helms, R-N.C., the Foreign Relations Committee chairman, in a speech to the Security Council.

But Biden said that while he does not share Helms' conservative politics, he too believes the United Nations must overhaul his practices.

Congress has imposed a set of conditions on repayment of nearly $1 billion in delinquent U.S. dues to the world body, conditions that were written by Helms and Biden. They include a lower U.S. share in running the United Nations.

"Fundamental changes have to take place," Biden told the U.N. officials. "The good news is you're in charge."

Also lending his voice to calls for U.N. overhauls, Sen. John Warner, R-Va., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told Annan that the United Nations is not high in popularity among Americans.

"No one in history ever got elected by supporting the United Nations," he said. Warner said the United Nations needed to improve its ability to "come in behind military operations" and restore civilian order, as in Kosovo.

The comments came as Annan met with the full Foreign Relations panel, in town to hold a hearing later in the day on U.N. reform.

Biden's tough words came as Security Council members recoiled from criticism by Helms that the United Nations needs to get its financial house in order. The U.N. members countered that the United States is not living up to its own responsibilities.

"Under the U.N. charter, a member state cannot attach conditions to its willingness to pay," said Peter van Walsum, the representative from the Netherlands.

"All the other members of the United Nations expected the United States to keep its word," agreed Sergey Lavrov, the Russian envoy.

Helms' demands "are unlikely to lead to useful results," said Robert Fowler, Canada's representative.

Each of the 14 other representatives to the Security Council offered rebuttal to Helms' accusations.

Helms, who has spent his career blasting the United Nations, carried his criticism into the Security Council chamber Thursday, telling members Americans feel "a lack of gratitude" and "a deep frustration with this institution."

The conservative lawmaker also accused the Security Council of being "paralyzed" in dealing with Kosovo and said its peacekeeping mission to Bosnia was a disaster.

And he said any attempt by the United Nations "to impose its presumed authority on the American people without their consent" could lead to an eventual U.S. withdrawal from the world body.

It was the same kind of salvos Helms has been hurling for years. The only difference was that he was launching them at U.N. headquarters, the first member of Congress to address the Security Council.

Helms today was to preside over a field hearing of his committee, looking into what the United Nations has done to comply with structural changes sought by Congress -- including a reduction in the U.S. share of peacekeeping operations from the present 31 percent to 25 percent.

U.S. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke was to be the leadoff witness.

Holbrooke told reporters after Helms' speech that he felt the appearance would help build better relations between the United Nations and Congress, despite the blunt words.

"It will help us push the reform package, which is our highest priority," he said.

U.N. officials suggested that would take a lot of persuasion on Holbrooke's part, since the conditions demanded by Helms, including the reduction in U.S. payments, have found little support so far among the 188-member General Assembly.