Mideast - AFP
Israel presses Annan on Iraq envoy's criticisms
Date: Mon, Apr 26, 2004
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - Israel pressed UN Secretary General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) to take action over his top envoy to Iraq (news - web sites), Lakhdar Brahimi, who last week said the Jewish state was sowing "poison in the region."
In a letter to Annan, Israeli ambassador Dan Gillerman said Brahimi's remarks "put in doubt the objectivity of UN staff" and that the UN chief should put his envoy on alert over the remarks.
"It is highly inappropriate for a senior UN official to attack member states in such an unjust manner, especially using unbalanced, caustic language," Gillerman said.
"This is particularly true in this case given that Israel's situation is not a part of Mr Brahimi's responsibilities, and it is improper for him to use the stature provided by his UN office to vent his personal opinions," he said.
Speaking with CNN on Monday, Annan said he believed Brahimi was commenting on the impact the Israeli-Palestinian crisis was having on his work in Iraq.
"The way he explained it, he was trying to convey reactions from the region," said Annan, who was to meet Monday with Brahimi before his envoy addresses the UN Security Council on Tuesday.
Annan spokesman Fred Eckhard on Friday backed away from Brahimi's comments, made in an interview with a French radio station.
"He is a former foreign minister of Algeria and therefore he brings to the table strongly held and strongly expressed views," Eckhard said.
"Mr Brahimi was expressing his personal views... the official position of the United Nations (news - web sites) on such matters is that set out by the Secretary General."
Brahimi told France Inter radio on Wednesday: "There's no doubt that the great poison in the region is this Israeli policy of domination and suffering imposed on the Palestinians."
He also decried the "unjust" US support for Israel.
Brahimi, a highly respected veteran diplomat, has been tapped to help set up an interim government in Iraq by June 30 and prepare for the country's first post-Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) elections early next year.
On Saturday, Brahimi stood by his remarks.
"What I said was that Israel's policies, not Israel itself, were a poison for the region, and that is the view of everybody in the region and beyond," he said. "That is a fact, not an opinion."
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