February 22, 2007	Thursday	Safar 4, 1428

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 21: The chairman of the Group of 77 plus China, Ambassador Munir Akram of Pakistan, said on Tuesday that differences between UN Chief Ban Ki-Moon and the group, over their approach to UN reforms process still existed indicating that they had not buried the hatchet yet.

Asked about the reported tension between the secretary-general and the Group of 77, Mr Akram told a press conference he was aware of those reports, adding that the group wished to support the secretary-general. It also wished to see him succeed and to be seen as successful in the organisation’s operations.

However, he said, the group had its own developmental priorities and had stressed the need for the Secretariat to give the highest priority to implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which seek to eliminate or drastically reduce several economic and social evils facing the world, and the internationally agreed goals.

The G-77 chairman said that there were still questions about the chain of command in the field with two peacekeeping departments instead of one. The secretary-general, he said, had agreed to refer the matter of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations to the Committee of 34, more formally known as the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations.

Ban was earlier confronted with a barrage of questions when he presented the proposals and was criticised by some ambassadors for trying to push them through quickly – without going through the normal committee and budget procedures in the General Assembly

As for whether the group felt the secretary-general was listening too much to the United States, the G-77 chairman said conjecture on how decisions had been influenced was a United Nations pastime. Some rumours were correct and others were not. Like every other nation member state, the United States had strong national interests and the secretary-general tried to respond to the interests of a broad membership,