Annan refuses to resign

United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan today rejected calls for him to resign after a critical report into Iraq's oil-for-food scandal.

Mr Annan is refusing to go despite his position being seriously undermined by the independent inquiry into the affair.

Asked if he would step down after the report raised questions about his management of the UN, he bluntly stated: "Hell, no." Mr Annan was cleared of personal corruption, but was blamed for not properly investigating a lucrative UN contract awarded to his son Kojo's employers.

The 144-page report severely criticised Mr Annan for failing to determine-the exact nature of Kojo Annan's work with Swiss firm Cotecna.

Kojo worked for the company in West Africa from 1995 to 1997, and was employed as a consultant until the end of 1998 - when it won the UN oil-for-food contract. He continued to be paid until last year, apparently without his father's or the UN's knowledge. Mr Annan said: "As I had always hoped and firmly believed, the inquiry has cleared me of wrongdoing." But the report was by no means a vindication of his involvement in the scandal.

It raised questions over when he learned about the December 1998 contract and condemned the destruction of vital documents by his former chief of staff.

Paul Volcker, the former US Federal Reserve chairman who led the probe, described Mr Annan's own one-day inquiry into the Cotecna contract as "inadequate".

The report accused Kojo Annan of concealing information about his dealings with Cotecna.

Mr Annan said he was "deeply saddened" by the evidence, and particularly by the fact that his son had failed to co-operate fully with the inquiry.

The report said documents which could have proved vital to the investigation were destroyed the day after they were requested.

A White House spokesman later acknowledged it was a "very serious matter" and that Congress was investigating. The report is unlikely to pacify Right-wing congressmen who have called for Mr Annan's resignation.

US officials have launched several investigations into allegations of corruption in the oil-for-food programme, which allowed Iraq to export a limited supply of its crude oil in return for humanitarian goods.