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World in brief

Report: U.N. oil-for-food head decried

By wire services
Published February 3, 2005

UNITED NATIONS - A first report by former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker into corruption allegations in the U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq will sharply criticize U.N. management and will target Benon Sevan, who ran the program, the Associated Press reported, quoting an unnamed source close to the inquiry.

The Volcker report, to be released this afternoon, will focus on the administration, financial transactions, and internal auditing of the $60-billion program, all of which the source called tainted, the AP reported.

The interim report will not address questions about U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan or the employment of his son, Kojo, by the Swiss company, Cotecna Inspection SA, which had a U.N. contract to certify deals under the oil-for-food program.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - U.S. troops are returning to Haiti to build schools and provide medical care in a humanitarian mission that comes nearly a year after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted in a three-week rebellion, officials said Wednesday.

The mission will involve about 1,000 troops from the Army and Navy over a three-month period, said Lt. Col. James Marshall, a spokesman for U.S. Southern Command in Miami. The troops, about 50 of whom arrived Tuesday, will focus their efforts in flood-struck Gonaives.

CLINTON'S ASIA ROLE: Former President Bill Clinton is heading U.N. efforts to promote reconstruction in the tsunami-devastated countries but will not play a political role in trying to resolve conflicts in Indonesia and Sri Lanka, the United Nations said Wednesday. U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said he misunderstood Clinton's mandate when he told reporters Tuesday that U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan wanted to appoint a special envoy to try to resolve conflicts with rebels in the two worst-hit countries.

VIETNAM SEEKS HELP: Vietnam appealed for international assistance late Wednesday as bird flu continued to spread among people and poultry alike. Acting Agriculture Minister Cao Duc Phat, the chairman of the national steering committee for avian influenza, asked the World Health Organization, and the Food and Agriculture Organization and foreign governments to provide technical aid for fighting the disease.

[Last modified February 3, 2005, 01:08:13]