George W. Bush

Washington, Dec. 3 (Reuters): The Bush administration made clear today that it would not take a position on whether UN secretary-general Kofi Annan should resign as it awaited the results of an investigation into the UN oil-for-food scandal.

However, Britain, Germany, France, Russia, and China rallied around Annan today. ?Mr Annan is doing an excellent job as secretary-general,? said foreign minister Jack Straw of Britain in a statement released in New York as other major powers and UN members expressed support for Annan.

President George W. Bush called for a ?full and open? accounting of Iraq?s now-defunct oil-for-food programme following accusations that former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein illegally reaped billions of dollars from it because of Annan?s lack of oversight.

While that probe is still pending US secretary of state Colin Powell said the administration will not take a position one way or another on whether Annan should step down. ?It would be inappropriate for the President to offer an opinion on this matter,? Powell said in an interview with Radio Sawa, a US-funded, Arabic-language network targeting mainly youths in the Arab world.

?We have all worked very closely with Kofi Annan,? Powell said, adding that he was certain Annan was anxious to get to the bottom of the issue. ?And so, the President would, of course, not take a position at this point, nor would I. We want to see the results of these inquiries,? Powell said.

Amid a call from a prominent Republican senator for Annan to resign, Bush and other officials have neither defended the secretary general nor joined calls for his ouster.

?I look forward to the full disclosure of the facts, get an honest appraisal of that which went on. And it?s important for the integrity of the organisation to have a full and open disclosure of all that took place with the oil-for-food programme,? Bush said earlier today as he met Nigerian President Olusegan Obasanjo.

At issue is a $64-billion programme for Iraq, administered by the UN and supervised by the 15-nation Security Council, that was meant to ease the impact of sanctions imposed after the Gulf War, on ordinary Iraqis.

Annan?s son, Kojo, worked for a Swiss firm, Cotecna, which inspected goods under the programme and is under investigation.

Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota, who is investigating corruption in the programme, on Wednesday called on Annan to resign.

Coleman said that Saddam had reaped some $21.3 billion from the oil-for-food programme because of Annan?s lack of oversight. The figure of $21.3 billion is questioned by independent experts as it is twice as high as other US government surveys. When pressed on whether Annan should resign, Bush would not say.

?On this issue, it?s very important for the United Nations to understand that there ought to be a full and fair and open accounting of the oil-for-food programme,? Bush said.