UNITED NATIONS — U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is traveling to Washington to meet with powerful Congressional leaders Thursday during a delicate time in U.S.-U.N. relations.
Annan’s spokesman, Fred Eckhard, said the trip was in the works before the United States was voted off two key U.N. panels earlier this month.
The losses stoked the ire of lawmakers who reacted by voting to withhold some dues owed to the United Nations until they are restored to the human rights panel.
In addition to being ousted from the U.N. Human Rights Commission and an international drug board, the United States is currently embroiled in a struggle with other powerful nations in the U.N. Security Council to alter sanctions on Iraq.
On Thursday, Annan will meet two of the United Nations’ fiercest Republican critics — Henry Hyde, head of the House International Relations Committee, and Jesse Helms of North Carolina, who heads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
In the House, Hyde co-wrote the provision voted on earlier this month to release $582 million in back dues but to withhold an additional $244 million.
In the Senate, Helms attached dozens of conditions the United Nations were expected to meet before the money would be released.
The United States and the United Nations differ over how much money is owed to the world body. The United States puts the sum at about $712 million in arrears while the United Nations believes that the amount owed is about double.
