UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged members of the US Congress to lift a spending cap on UN peacekeeping, which is leaving the organization with an annual shortfall of $150 million to $200 million.

Ban told reporters after he returned from a two-day trip to Washington that he brought up the current US cap of 25 percent on peacekeeping costs in talks with US President George W. Bush and congressional leaders, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. "They said they will discuss this matter," Ban said on Wednesday.

Under a scale of assessments agreed upon by UN member states in 2000, the United States is required to pay approximately 27 percent of peacekeeping costs, but the cap imposed by Congress limits US contributions to 25 percent.

According to the United Nations Association of the United States, the peacekeeping cap imposed in the 1994-95 fiscal year was temporarily adjusted in recent years, allowing the US to pay its peacekeeping dues in full. But the cap reverted to the 25 percent level in fiscal 2005-06, it said, generating millions of dollars in arrears.

Ban noted that the US government is the largest financial contributor to UN's peacekeeping budget as well as its regular operating budget.

But he said the 2 percent shortfall "will result in annually a $150 million or $200 million shortage of American contributions, which will, if it is accumulated, create very difficult constraints in smoothly carrying out peacekeeping operations."

"I have raised this issue in my meetings with President Bush and all the Congressional leaders. I strongly appealed and requested that the US Congress lift this spending cap, this peacekeeping operations cap of 25 percent," he said.

Earlier this month, Ban told the Security Council that the United Nations is "going through one of the busiest periods in our history" with 18 peacekeeping missions and 100,000 personnel currently in the field "and climbing." The current peacekeeping budget is about $4.75 billion.

Bush's request rejected

Ban said he could not agree to a request from Bush to increase the UN presence in Iraq because of security concerns amid rising violence.

The UN chief said the United Nations would, nonetheless, try to increase UN participation in the International Compact for Iraq, a five-year plan to ensure that Iraq's government has funds to survive and enact key political and economic reforms.

"President Bush wanted to see an increased presence and role of the United Nations in Iraq," Ban said.

"I told President Bush that ... the UN presence and operations in Iraq is actually constrained by the situation on the ground I mean the security concerns but we will try to continue to participate and increase our role in Iraq, including the International Compact with Iraq," he said.

Former Secretary-General Kofi Annan withdrew the UN's international staff from Iraq in 2003 following two attacks on UN offices in Baghdad and a spate of attacks on humanitarian workers. The first attack killed the top UN envoy in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, and 21 others.

UN staffers started returning in August 2004 and UN experts played key roles in helping Iraqis draft a new constitution and prepare for elections, but the numbers on the ground are limited because of increasing insecurity, especially in Baghdad.

source: China Daily/Agencies