Finances: Dunning the U.S.

Kofi Annan’s next peacekeeping operation comes later this month–not in the jungles of a Third World nation but in Washington, where hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake. After almost three years of legislative foot dragging, Congress has agreed to pay $926 million of the $1.8 billion the U.N. says the U.S. owes in back dues. But the cash comes with about two dozen conditions that were crafted by Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Jesse Helms and the panel’s senior Democrat, Joseph Biden. To get the first $100 million last year, the U.N. had to meet fairly innocuous requirements. President Clinton had to certify to Congress, for example, that the U.N. hadn’t imposed any taxes on Americans or taken over U.S. land. But to get the next installment of $582 million, the General Assembly has to agree to lower the annual amount the U.S. pays in the future.

Giving the world’s richest nation a break on its dues isn’t popular among the poorer U.N. members, and how they vote may depend on how Congress votes on another piece of legislation this month. The White House wants to give the U.N. $739 million next year for its peacekeeping operations, which have been growing in number. A tightfisted Congress, however, seems ready to spend only $500 million.

If the U.N. gets shortchanged, don’t count on the General Assembly’s being in a charitable mood when its vote comes up to lower the U.S. dues–even if that means losing the $582 million from the old tab. “Annan now has the delicate task of trying to cajole everybody to go in the right direction,” says Steven Dimoff, vice president of the United Nations Association. It may be Annan’s trickiest diplomatic gambit yet.

–By Douglas Waller/Washington