Negroponte may find confirmation tough going

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

UNITED NATIONS, JULY 30. The United States is without its top person at the United Nations; and the White House hopes that its nominee, Mr. John Negroponte, will appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee soon for his confirmation.

Mr. Negroponte was nominated by the President, Mr. George W Bush in March; and although the choice for the top U.N. job has generally been hailed, the administration has had to face several issues since then. The political linkages on Capitol Hill aside, Mr. Negroponte is facing scrutiny over his assignment to the Honduras in the 1980s.

Democrats in the Senate who are now in a ``majority'', thanks to the defection of Mr. James Jeffords are not out to ``kill'' the nomination. At the same time, they have made it clear that the confirmation may not be smooth sailing. Much of the fuss over the next U.N. envoy has to do with the fact that Honduras was used by the American backed Contra rebels fighting the leftist Sandanista Government in Nicaragua. The Honduras army was suspected of killing and torturing leftists in the country.

Linked to Mr. Negroponte's nomination is that of Mr. John Walters who has been chosen to head the White House drug policy. Mr. Walters too has come under close examination by Democrats and several liberal groups who charge that Mr. Walters is a hardliner in the campaign against drugs and is focussed on law enforcement without paying attention to treatment programmes. Another nomination that is causing some flutter on Capitol Hill is that of Mr. Otto Reich who has been put up as the State Department's top person for Western Hemisphere affairs. The criticism against Mr. Reich is that between 1983 and 1986 he led a State Department Office which was accused of running an illegal and covert domestic propaganda effort against the Sandanistas.

The White House is clearly disappointed that Mr. Negroponte's nomination process is not moving quickly. Some of the President's advisors feel that in failing to move quickly on the top envoy's nomination hearings and confirmation, the U.S. is sending the wrong message of not being serious about the U.N. Add to this the perception that the absence of the top person in New York has already hurt the U.S. - the loss of the seat in the Human Rights Commission.

Republicans on Capitol Hill, who have conveniently forgotten that under their watch in the Senate, Mr. Richard Holbrooke had to cool his heels for more than a year for the same U.N. job under the Clinton administration, have criticised the Democrats. Mr. Negroponte and Mr. Reich are expected to face some intense questioning from the Democrats for the Reagan Govt.'s Contra policy.

And while Mr. Negroponte will eventually be confirmed, it may not be that easy for Mr.Reich. In the fuss over the delays, what has not attracted sufficient attention is that one of the key persons in the Contra scandal is now in the White House as Senior Director for Democracy, Human Rights and International Operations of the National Security Council. Mr.Elliot Abrams, a former Assistant Secretary of State, pleaded guilty to withholding information from Congress and was later pardoned by the present President's father, Mr. George Bush.

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Section  : International
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