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| RICHARD HOLBROOKE | |
 December 22, 2000  |
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Ambassador Holbrooke explains the deal to finally pay the U.S.'s overdue bill to the United Nations.
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TERENCE SMITH: Negotiations have been going on for months
over what share the US will pay for both regular UN operations and peacekeeping.
A deal was finally worked out early this morning. The key US negotiator
was Ambassador, welcome. RICHARD HOLBROOKE: Hi, Terry. TERENCE SMITH: Of course, it's been years now that the United States has been in arrears to the United Nations. Explain to us the main points of this deal and whether it has a prospect of resolving those difficulties. |
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| Complying with Congress | ||||||||||||||||||||
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RICHARD HOLBROOKE: Well, it's awfully complicated. Let me try to be
very succinct. There are two budgets involved here: The regular budget,
which pays the UN administrative costs, and which is about $1.1 billion
a year, of which have the US has been paying 25 percent since 1972.
Prior to '72, we paid much more. But since TERENCE SMITH: And have you met those goals? RICHARD HOLBROOKE: I hope you're still with me. I hope we haven't lost all our viewers to some other program. The amount of money involved in the regular budget was only $34 million. And we did meet our goal. We were reduced from 25 to 22 percent early this morning after what really was a fantastic struggle. Now how will that extra $34 million be made up? Starting in 2002, the other member states will absorb it by redistribution. But during the transition year of 2001, a year in which most of the countries had already done their national budgets and they didn't know where the money could come from, we found an extraordinary solution. Ted Turner, the same one you're thinking of, Ted Turner of CNN, came up with an offer to us which he made to me in private six weeks ago, that he would put forward those $34 million personally, not out of his other UN Foundation money which he has already given the UN a billion dollars. This would be additional money. He would make it available one year only to ease the transition. Until early this morning, nobody knew Turner was the source of the $34 million, but we had put that offer into play and it did the trick. So on the regular budget, we are down to the 22 percent mandated by Helms-Biden. On the peacekeeping budget, we were asked to go from 31-25 percent. The numbers just weren't there, Terry. There was no way we could get down in one year. So we are going to get to about 27 percent next year, which is a tremendous step forward. Then we will go down progressively after that. So we fell a little bit short of the exact target is, but it's a tremendous step forward. And by the way, the first time in 27 years, that the budgets have been reformed. |
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RICHARD HOLBROOKE: A point of law first, Mr. Smith. We didn't go to them. It would have been illegal for us to solicit private funds. The genesis of this was that I was in a meeting with Ted Turner as I have been in hundreds of meetings, explaining the issue in detail. And Ted turned to me and Senator Tim Wirth was there with me in the room and various other people, and Ted Turner came to me and said you mean that no one can pick up the money for about a year because their budgets are locked in and it is only, "only" $34 million? I said that's right. Ted said on the spot let me make it up for one year but only if it's the money that makes the difference. What does it say? It says different things. It says that this is a great country where people can make great gestures. And this one is more than a normal bequest of a philanthropic nature. This is a highly leveraged, highly targeted and really visionary gift and it will make a huge difference. I think we should all be grateful to Ted Turner. What does it say about the United States? The Congress asked us to go down -- the UN membership is willing to let us go down. But there was this one-year gap. And Ted Turner is going to make it up for one year. So I don't see... you're the third journalist this afternoon to ask me this question, but I guess I'm myopic because I don't quite see it that way. TERENCE SMITH: Well, let me ask it this way. Does it not reflect a very deep-seeded skepticism on the part of the Congress, certainly about the United Nations and about paying its bills? Normally we would pay our bills through the government. RICHARD HOLBROOKE: Well, it is a very unusual arrangement. I don't
think there is any precedent at all. And by the way, a point of law,
the money will be turned We need to strengthen the power of the Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, who is a wonderful leader for this organization, but does not have enough power. And by the way, I hope will he continue to serve when this term runs out, for another term. But there are so many things that need to be done, and I am delighted that as this administration comes to an end, we can present the incoming administration and the new Congress with a radically improved support of the UN, a significant improvement in US efforts, and an improved UN, but the job is far from finished. For example, the Information Office here has 800 people in it. There are 120 people in the library in this building from which I'm talking. This kind of stuff cannot go on. So I hope that the reform efforts that we pushed so hard with the support of the Senate and particularly Senators Helms and Biden will continue. |
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TERENCE SMITH: Have you had a chance to discuss this with the Bush administration, with the incoming secretary of state and are they on board? RICHARD HOLBROOKE: Secretary-designate Powell and I have known each
other a long time and I greatly TERENCE SMITH: All right. Well, it's a major Christmas gift for the United States, for the UN. Thank you very much. RICHARD HOLBROOKE: Thank you, Terry. |
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Ambassador
Richard Holbrooke, and he joins us now. 
1972,
we have paid 25 percent, and the peacekeeping budget, which goes up
and down, depending on how many peacekeeping operations we have, it
is a larger budget. And we have been paying about 31 percent. The Congress
negotiated under the leadership of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Chairman and ranking minority member Senator Helms and Senator Biden
of Delaware, negotiated with the State Department, the so-called Helms-Biden
provisions, which said we would pay our debt to the UN, or most of it,
if we reached certain specific benchmarks or conditions. Those conditions...
we met some of them last year and gave the UN back $100 million. The
Congress left another $836 million in the kitty to be turned over to
the UN in two sections -- $584 million this year... excuse me, $582
million this year and $244 million next year if we could meet some new
conditions. The key condition was that we lower the amount of money
the US pays in the regular budget from 25 percent to 22 percent and
we lower the amount of money we pay in peacekeeping from 31 percent
to 25 percent. 
TERENCE
SMITH: Ambassador, what does it say to you that the United States, the
nation's sole superpower, has to go to private funds to pay its bills
to an organization like the UN? 
over
to the State Department. Ted Turner and Madeleine Albright exchanged
letters on this today. That money will be turned over to the UN. But
let me get back to your point. The United Nations is an indispensable
but deeply flawed organization. It is valuable to the United States,
and the United States is invaluable to it. We need to reform it. What
you're talking about now is just a tiny tip of the iceberg towards the
reforms which are necessary. We've had other reforms; in the last week
we have started to reform the peacekeeping office. So we don't have
any more Sierra Leones and Rwandas and Bosnias. Yet, I am fearful there
will be more anyway. The UN is still administratively not adequate.
admire
him. I think he is going to be a great secretary of state. He and I
have had two long talks about this, one late last night. Madeleine Albright
has also talked to him. He was well aware of what was going on, was
very supportive. And I look forward to speaking to him in person now
that this sleepless in Manhattan ordeal is coming to an end.