Annan Off to a Solid Start in Effort to Reform U.N.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan is showing he is serious about making good on his promise to cut waste and bureaucratic inefficiency at the United Nations, and Washington is applauding his initial efforts. The administrative changes that Annan announced this week and the more extensive bundle of structural reforms he plans to unveil in July could satisfy long-held American grievances about the excessive costs of U.N. operations and clear the way for this country, the organization’s richest member, to begin settling its embarrassing debt.

Annan, a Ghanaian, took office in January, after a U.S. veto blocked a second term for Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt, seen by many in Congress and the State Department as moving too slowly to streamline the overstaffed secretariat and otherwise bring the expenses of the United Nations under control. American dissatisfaction with the lack of reform under Boutros-Ghali was in part responsible for Washington’s refusal to pay its full assessments for the regular U.N. budget and for peacekeeping operations.

What Washington seeks is not just downsizing of the U.N. bureaucracy to cut expenses--the new budget is based on a staff cut of about 1,000--but major changes in the formula for assessing member states. The United States is responsible for paying 25% of the regular U.N. budget and 30% of the cost of peacekeeping operations. It wants those assessments cut to about 20% and 25% respectively. Would other states accept higher assessments to offset reduced U.S. payments? The secretary-general will have his work cut out for him when he tries to get a positive answer to that question.

For now, Annan deserves full credit for making a solid start on the vexing U.N. financing question. The size of the secretariat is shrinking, administrative costs are scheduled to be cut significantly, departments and services are being consolidated and the volume of paperwork generated by the organization is to be slashed by one-fourth.

The harder part will come this summer, when Annan must win broad support from member countries for the structural changes he will propose. If he can do that, the way should finally be clear for the United States to meet its obligations and begin paying down the $1.2 billion it owes to the United Nations and several of its specialized agencies.