Ex-Envoy Scolds U.S. on U.N. Dues Issue

Donald F. McHenry, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during the Jimmy Carter Administration, Friday called the U.S. refusal to pay its full share of U.N. dues “illegal” and said it threatens to paralyze the organization’s peacemaking efforts at a crucial time.

McHenry issued the strong warning to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which has begun re-examining the United States’ financial relationship with the United Nations because of dissatisfaction with its internal workings and some policy decisions.

Seeking to soften criticism about the United States’ withholding of more than half a billion dollars in payments, Vernon A. Walters, the current U.S. ambassador, told Senate panel members at a hearing that he expects the Reagan Administration to certify later this year that the United Nations has made some progress in internal reforms and that some of the back payments would be released.

Aware of Possible Disruption

He said the Administration is aware that the United Nations’ “tight cash situation” could become disruptive as it works to negotiate a truce in the Persian Gulf War, is involved in a peacekeeping role in Angola and Namibia and continues its worldwide campaign against AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

But even as some senators expressed alarm about the effect the shortfall could have on its key operations, some conservatives such as Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) pushed for still-tighter fiscal controls.

Helms, calling recent U.N. budget and staffing reforms “a charade,” charged that the organization still must learn that it cannot pay “fat salaries” and accrue large expenses “and then send the bill to Uncle Sam.”

Sen. Nancy L. Kassebaum (R-Kan.) suggested that, with other world nations now growing in economic power, the United States should consider formally reducing its contribution to the U.N. budget.

The United States has been expected to finance a quarter of the U.N. budget, but the Reagan Administration and Congress have for three years withheld part of those funds. The United States now owes the organization $467 million in back dues for its regular budget and $70 million for peacekeeping operations.

‘An Absolute Outrage’

McHenry, now a Georgetown University professor, told the panel that the U.S. action is “unwise, illegal (and) a clear violation of our solemn treaty violations. . . . This is an outrage, an absolute outrage.”

Echoing recent complaints by U.N. officials, McHenry said the organization is distracted from its primary role as international peacekeeper “by the need to find enough money to pay the utility bills” and staff salaries.

Calling the U.S. debt “disgraceful and dishonorable,” McHenry said the U.S. government must pay its bills or risk doing “further damage to our national security.”

Echoing his concerns, Sen. Claiborne Pell (D-R.I.), chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said: “The United States’ prestige is compromised by our deadbeat status. Frankly, it is embarrassing that the world’s wealthiest country won’t pay its bills.”

The Administration, while not backing away from its position on the freeze, signaled a more conciliatory attitude. Assistant Secretary of State Dennis C. Goodman said in a statement to the committee that the United Nations has made “real progress” in improving its management and budgeting process. “We remain committed to continued active support for the important work begin done by the U.N.,” Goodman said.