UNITED NATIONS, Dec 22: UN Secretary General Kofi Annan reaffirmed on Tuesday he would not resign over allegations of corruption in the UN oil-for-food programme and plans to work with member states to institute reforms at the world body as recommended by the high-level panel.
At a year end press conference Mr Annan acknowledged that allegations of corruption and mismanagement within the oil-for-food programme had "cast a shadow" over an operation that brought relief to millions of Iraqis.
"We must find out the truth as quickly as possible," he stressed. Mr Annan said he intended to make public when it is released in January an interim report by former US Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, who is heading an independent probe into the multibillion humanitarian operation which ceased operation in November 2003.
Looking at the year ahead, the UN chief underscored the opportunity to build a framework for a more secure world based on the recommendations of a blue-ribbon commission that looked at emerging international threats and ways to deal with them.
He said he was heartened by the reaction in many capitals to the report of the high-level panel on the reforms in the world body which he said "lays out a powerful vision of collective security and calls for sweeping changes of the United Nations."
"In the period ahead, states must work together to build a shared global framework for collective security in the 21st century, and forge a truly global partnership for development," he declared.
