The Bush administration made clear on Thursday it would not take a position on whether U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan should resign as it awaited the results of an investigation into the U.N. oil-for-food scandal.
President George W. Bush called for a "full and open" accounting of Iraq's now-defunct oil-for-food program following accusations Iraqi President Saddam Hussein illegally reaped billions of dollars from it because of Annan's lack of oversight.
While that probe is still pending U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the administration will not take a position one way or another on whether Annan should step down.
"It would be inappropriate for the president to offer an opinion on this matter," Powell said in an interview with Radio Sawa, a U.S.-funded, Arabic-language network targeting mainly youths in the Arab world.
"We have all worked very closely with Kofi Annan," Powell said, adding that he was certain Annan was anxious to get to the bottom of the issue. "And so, the president would, of course, not take a position at this point, nor would I. We want to see the results of these inquiries," Powell said.
Amid a call from a prominent Republican senator for Annan to resign, Bush and other officials have neither defended the secretary general nor joined calls for his ouster.
"I look forward to the full disclosure of the facts, get an honest appraisal of that which went on. And it's important for the integrity of the organization to have a full and open disclosure of all that took place with the oil-for-food program," Bush said earlier on Thursday as he met Nigerian President Olusegan Obasanjo.
At issue is a $64 billion program for Iraq, administered by the United Nations and supervised by the 15-nation Security Council, that was meant to ease the impact of sanctions on ordinary Iraqis.
Annan's son, Kojo, worked for a Swiss firm, Cotecna, which inspected goods under the program and is under investigation.
Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota, who is investigating corruption in the program, on Wednesday called on Annan to resign. He said former Saddam reaped some $21.3 billion from the program because of Annan's lack of oversight. The figure of $21.3 billion is questioned by independent experts as it is twice as high as other U.S. government surveys.
When pressed on whether Annan should resign, Bush would not say.
"On this issue, it's very important for the United Nations to understand that there ought to be a full and fair and open accounting of the oil-for-food program," he said.
"In order for the taxpayers of the United States to feel comfortable about supporting the United Nations, there has to be an open accounting," he said.
(Additional reporting by Steve Holland and Saul Hudson)