UNITED NATIONS, Dec 17: US Senator Patrick Leahy on Wednesday warned the Bush administration and his Republican colleagues on the Capitol Hill not to make a political football out of the United Nations by withholding its dues.

"I think we ought to take a deep breath. This is not a time to make a political football out of the UN," Mr Leahy told reporters after meeting UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. "We need them in the Sudan. We need them throughout parts of Africa ... in Iraq, in Haiti."

Mr Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, said he disapproved of moves by several Republicans to withhold US payments unless the world body fully cooperates with Congressional probes into the oil-for-food scandal in Iraq.

He was the third Democratic legislator in a week to offer support to Mr Annan at the United Nations, following Rep Tom Lantos of California and Sen Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts.

Asked whether he had conferred on the issue with anybody in the Bush administration on the issue, Mr Leahy said: "I've talked with not only the Secretary of State (Colin Powell) but the incoming secretary of state (Condoleezza Rice) about this. I know that they support the secretary general. I do too."

About five Republican legislators have called for Mr Annan's Resignation in the wake of the oil-for-food scandal now under investigation. "The broader question is not what one or two individual senators think, but to continue with investigations under way," Mr Leahy said.