-Caveat Lector-
{I used to know some of these Turners personally--not Ted but several of
his cousins--when they were not so wealthy. Made lots of $ with those "See
Rock City" signs and birdhouses. Flakes, all of them. You may quote me.
Amelia}
Ted Turner offers to pay $34 million in U.S. dues at U.N.
By NICOLE WINFIELD
The Associated Press
12/22/00 1:51 AM
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Three years after he stunned the United Nations with
a $1 billion gift, media mogul Ted Turner is offering $34 million more to
break a budget impasse between the United States and the 188 other U.N.
countries, sources close to the deal say.
If accepted by U.N. members, the offer could help resolve a dispute over
U.S. payments to the organization that has had negotiators wrangling for
months.
The United States currently pays 25 percent of the U.N. administrative
budget and says its share should be reduced to 22 percent. But that would
leave other countries to make up the shortfall, and many have objected.
Turner has approached the Clinton administration and offered to pay the $34
million shortfall for 2001, sources said Thursday, speaking on condition of
anonymity.
The years after that aren't addressed by his offer, though, and it wasn't
immediately clear if the gesture would be enough to persuade 188 reluctant
countries to accept the U.S. demands for a permanent cut in America's share
of the U.N. bills. U.S. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke has had a hard time
persuading countries to make up the U.S. shortfall, particularly for next
year, since many governments have already approved their 2001 budgets.
The United States planned to announce the Turner offer to diplomats in the
early hours of negotiations Friday, the last official day of budget talks in
the U.N. General Assembly.
Turner, the billionaire founder of Cable News Network and a Time Warner vice
chairman, made international headlines in 1997 when he announced his $1
billion gift to the United Nations over 10 years. Since then, the United
Nations Foundation he established to disburse the money has made grants to
various U.N. agencies, particularly for population programs.
Calls placed after business hours Thursday to Turner's publicist in Atlanta
and the Washington headquarters of the foundation were not immediately
returned.
His offer comes as the United States is making a last-ditch effort to clinch
a deal for a package of reforms on how much money it gives to the United
Nations each year.
The United States owes the United Nations $1.8 billion in back dues, but
Congress has tied payment of a major chunk of that money -- $926 million --
to the reforms. Specifically, the United States is looking for the reduction
in its share of the U.N. administrative budget and a cut in the U.S.
contribution to U.N. peacekeeping operations from 31 percent to 25 percent.
While the Turner offer addresses a key issue in the negotiations, it does
not answer a host of other outstanding problems ambassadors have been
haggling over in around-the-clock negotiations this week.
"We've either got to score a touchdown or lose," Holbrooke said in an
interview Thursday detailing the excruciating negotiations.
U.S. officials have suggested that there was room to compromise on the
reduction for the peacekeeping demand, but not on the administrative budget
demand, and foreign diplomats have suggested that that might be an
acceptable compromise.
On Thursday, French Ambassador Jean-David Levitte stressed a European Union
proposal that any agreement to reduce the U.S. bill be accompanied by
conditions to ensure the United States pays back its full $1.8 billion in
arrears.
Many U.N. members fear Washington will get a deal and then renege on future
payments. The EU conditions would force Washington to pay off all of its
outstanding arrears or risk having its administrative bill shoot back up to
25 percent again in three years.
U.S. officials said the EU proposal is unacceptable.
Copyright 2000 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not
be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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