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Ghali urges

UN to cut

dependence

on US funds

WASHINGTON: A "bankrupt" United Nations must break its dependence on US funding and seek a more even source of payments from member states, Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali said Sunday in an editorial.

"Urgent attention is needed to improve the organization's dangerous financial position. The United Nations is bankrupt," Boutros-Ghali wrote in a signed Washington Post opinion piece.

By the end of May member states owed 2.754 billion dollars in assessments not paid and the United States, the largest debtor, owed 1.179 billion dollars, Boutros-Ghali said.

"The organization's excessive dependence on the assessments from a single member state is unhealthy," he said.

A more even distribution of assessments among the countries with the capacity to pay would be in the best interests of the organization and the international community as a whole. It should be undertaken without delay, the Secretary General urged.

The United Nations has come under fire from Republican legislators in the US Congress who want to strip back US contributions to the organization.

Many members have questioned the efficiency of the United Nations as well as its ability to carry out its missions.

The secretary general said that "significant progress is being made," in efforts to cut staffing and costs, install financial controls and curb abuse. He added that "there is a pressing need for governments and public opinion to decide what they want the United Nations to be, what they want it to do and what they are willing to contribute to make it work."

The last modification of the US contribution to the world body came in 1972 when its rate dropped from 31.5 percent to 25 percent of the organization's general budget.

The United States also pays for 30 percent of peacekeeping costs.

The UN General Assembly is expected to discuss assessments at its coming session.-AFP