UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - The UN staff union passed a resolution sharply critical of the world body's senior management but expressed support for beleaguered Secretary General Kofi Annan (news - web sites).
An earlier draft of the resolution had strongly worded language about no confidence in senior staff of the United Nations (news - web sites), which has been buffeted by scandals over the past few months.
Union president Rosemarie Waters said that version had left open the possibility of criticising Annan, which she insisted her committee did not want to do, despite often troubled relations with UN management.
She said the wording that had appeared in a version on Thursday had been changed to avoid "an incorrect interpretation," and said the union wanted managers to heed Annan's call for greater accountability.
"(Annan) is in a very difficult job under very difficult circumstances," Waters said.
"He's doing his best."
Union officials said they would make the full text of the resolution available later in the day.
Annan has seen his tenure rocked by a series of scandals and mishaps of late, including controversial decisions to pardon two senior officials who had faced allegations of sexual harassment.
Some staffers had been especially angered by the decision this week not to pursue action against Dileep Nair, the head of the UN internal oversight office, who had been accused of harassment and favouritism.
Annan's spokesman Fred Eckhard on Tuesday announced that Nair had been cleared after a thorough review, although staffers complained that they had not been consulted after raising the complaints in April.
"We voted a resolution requesting (Annan) to release the report on the investigation that he's done and requesting some transparency," Waters said. "The confidence level is low in the senior management."
Passage of the resolution comes with Annan and the United Nations under fire over allegations of fraud and corruption in the UN programme that oversaw oil sales by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s regime.
Annan has publicly complained of a "campaign" against the United Nations over the so-called oil-for-food program, which ran between December 1996 and November 2003.
The resolution also follows the exoneration in July of Ruud Lubbers, the top UN official for refugees who had been the target of a sexual harassment complaint brought by a female member of his staff.
Annan also cleared Lubbers of any wrongdoing in that case but reportedly sent him a letter conveying his "concerns" about the official's behaviour.
Eckhard, the spokesman, acknowledged the staff union was "not happy" with this week's decision on Nair, whose OIOS office functions as the UN internal watchdog.
Before the vote, he said UN officials had been in touch with the union to set up a meeting next week to avoid a showdown and "keep dialogue going and see if we can't sort out our differences."
Waters said she had not been informed of the meeting.
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