July 26, 2002	Friday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 15,1423

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WASHINGTON, July 25: US Secretary of State Colin Powell, faced with a question on Thursday about whether he will resign because of policy differences within the Bush administration, dismissed the idea out of hand.

Some media outlets interpreted a US decision this week to scrap 34 million dollars in aid to the UN Population Fund as a defeat for Powell’s moderate stance on family planning and other social issues.

US President George W. Bush’s effort to sideline Palestinian President Yasser Arafat from the Middle East peace process has also been seen as edging out Powell’s view, shared by European and Arab leaders, that Arafat was the man they must talk to.

Asked after meeting his Afghan counterpart if he had considered the possibility of resigning, Powell replied firmly: “No.”

He added: “You all insist on writing this story every two weeks.”

A front-page article in Thursday’s New York Times said a string of internal policy differences and defeats had set off speculation Powell might not last through Bush’s term.

Powell explained the US position on UN Population Fund money, noting that the cash had been diverted to US programmes for women’s reproductive health and similar areas.

He said he had been the one to sign the decision on Sunday to withhold the money because the UN agency was in violation of a US law. The UN body gives money to China, which taxes families who have more than one child and has been accused of tolerating forced abortions and involuntary sterilizations.

Powell said he concluded after long study that the agency, known by the acronym UNFPA, had violated the law barring aid to groups that help others who manage coercive abortion programs.

“This administration supports the work of the UNFPA but it has to be done consistent with US law,” he said.

“Let me point out that our level of support to these kinds of family planning activities is higher than it’s been in the past — it’s up to 480 million dollars,” he said.

Democrats and supporters of family planning denounced the decision, saying it was a clear attempt to please America’s conservative anti-abortion lobby before congressional elections in November.

The European Union said it had made up the shortfall created by the withdrawal of US support, which comprises 13 percent of funds to the UN agency..—Reuters