Head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee urges Kofi Annan to reform U.N.

Sen. Richard Lugar spoke at a hearing on U.N. reform at which the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, was testifying. It was Bolton's first appearance before the committee since he failed to win confirmation to his post and President George W. Bush gave him a recess appointment Aug. 1. Former Federal Reserve chairman, Paul Volcker, also was briefing the committee on his investigation of the U.N.'s scandal-ridden oil for food program in Iraq.

Lugar said the United States should help bring the reform proposals forward and decide what to do if this does not happen. Lugar said a document that the General Assembly approved in September on reform lacks details necessary to be a blueprint for action.

Instead, he said, it calls on the secretary-general to submit proposals to the General Assembly for further negotiation and approval.

Bolton appears before the panel after predicting last week that efforts to expand the U.N. Security Council significantly would fail. He said the world body must become more efficient, effective and accountable, and making the Security Council too large would undermine that goal.

Volcker's report recommended sweeping management improvements that would, among other things, put more power in the hands of the secretary-general.

U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota said Monday that the United Nations lacks the leadership and the will to overhaul itself.

Coleman, a Republican, says leaders at the recent U.N. World Summit in New York failed to tackle proposed changes. He's pushing for the adoption of reforms proposed during a Senate investigation into the oil-for-food program. A.M.