CAIRO, Dec 22: US pressure has prompted a UN agency to scrap a report on freedom and governance in the Arab world whose sections on Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict angered Washington, the lead author said on Wednesday.

Nader Fergani, leading a team writing the latest Arab Human Development Report, said the UN Development Programme was not expected to print the report under its own name due to US threats to cut a chunk of its $100 million funding to the UNDP.

"My understanding is that the UNDP will not publish it under its logo, but they will not prevent it from being published under the names of the authors," Fergani said, adding that the authors hoped to publish it at the end of January.

"It seems that the pressure that was put on the UNDP (by the US and Egyptian governments) was too heavy to bear," he said. Fergani earlier said Washington was unhappy with sections in the report on the US military presence in Iraq and the activities of its ally Israel in the Palestinian areas.

He had also said Egypt objected to parts calling for freedom of expression and association in the Arab world. US officials have denied trying to delay or suppress the report, which was originally due to come out in October. But UN officials previously said parts were being rewritten after the United States and some Arab governments asked for changes.

The UNDP had no immediate comment on Wednesday. A statement from the UN agency was expected later in the day. Ironically, the United States used the first Arab Human Development Report, dated 2002, as the basis for its first detailed proposals on reform in the Arab world. But Fergani said the United States had since penalised the UNDP by $12 million because it did not like a subsequent report and could face a bigger penalty if it published the latest one.

"You can't blame the UNDP, the pressure was too heavy. It would have implied a drastic cut in the core programmes of the UNDP aimed at the poor in Africa and Asia," Fergani said.

"The report documents the present state of freedom and governance and tries to provide food for thought on how a transformation towards a society of freedom and good governance could be initiated in Arab countries," he said on Wednesday.

"There is no way that the message will be suppressed," he said, adding that the team of authors, from all over the Arab world, would have to raise funds to cover publication but said most of the costs of preparing the report were already paid. - Reuters