HOUSE THREATENS TO HOLD BACK U.N. DUES FOR LOSS OF SEAT

WASHINGTON, May 8 - Administration and congressional officials
expressed anger today at the United Nations for the loss of a United
States seat on the Human Rights Commission, and influential
Republicans and Democrats in the House threatened to hold $244
million in dues to the organization if Washington's seat is not
restored next year.

In a telephone interview this evening, shortly after the House deal
was reached, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell acknowledged that
American officials had been taken by surprise by members of the
United Nations Economic and Social Council who voted the United
States off the panel in a secret ballot last week. "One thing I can
guarantee you is that we will be back on it next year," General
Powell said today.

He said that the vote, combined with another secret ballot that
resulted in the loss of the American seat on the International
Narcotics Control Board, reflected the fact that "we left a little
blood on the floor" in votes involving the Palestinians, Cuba and
China, and that a number of countries were looking to retaliate.

General Powell spoke as the Administration was both venting its anger
over the committee seats and attempting to head off a movement in
Congress to cut off American funding for the United Nations. In the
last days of the Clinton administration, the United States agreed to
pay more than a billion dollars in back dues.

Today, Democratic and Republican leaders of the House International
Affairs Committee agreed to go ahead with the next United Nations
dues payment of $582 million. But in an effort by Republicans to calm
conservatives who are demanding a cutoff of money to the United
Nations, an accord was reached in which a later payment of roughly
$244 million would be withheld unless the United States is
reinstated. The next election for slots on the Human Rights
Commission is in spring 2002.

Representative Dick Armey, the House majority leader, predicted that
when the House took up a bill later this week on State Department
programs it would vote to restrict the repayment of some of the dues.
"This is an affront," he said, "more to the whole notion of
international human rights than it is to us as a nation."

General Powell did not say whether he thought withholding dues might
further inflame relations between the United Nations and Washington.
"We have to look at the language," he said. General Powell, in a
telephone call he made to The New York Times, said a number of
countries were seeking to dilute American influence at the United
Nations. "As one of my colleagues here said, this was a vote looking
for a venue to happen," he said.

The ratcheting up of pressure on the United Nations began today at
the White House, where Mr. Bush's spokesman, Air Fleischer, blamed
the countries that had reneged on promises to the United States to
vote for American seats on both panels.

"It's hard to be committed to the cause of human rights when you've
put Sudan and Libya on a panel that's dedicated to fighting for the
cause of human rights," he said in a briefing. "The real losers in
this equation are people around the world who are struggling to be
free."

But in private, some American officials acknowledged that they had
failed to detect a sea change in the 54-member Economic and Social
Council, which selects the members of the human rights and drug
commissions.

China had quietly lobbied to get the United States removed, striking
back for the annual resolution that Washington sponsors condemning
Beijing's treatment of dissidents and, this year, the Falun Gong
movement.

Other developing nations joined. Europe's vote was split: Three
European countries and the United States were vying for three slots.
France received 52 votes, Austria 41, and Sweden 32. The United
States came in fourth, with 29, losing the seat it has held since
Eleanor Roosevelt helped establish the commission.

Some American officials say the seat might have been saved if the
American nominee for ambassador to the United Nations, John
Negroponte, had been confirmed by the Senate and in place. Others say
that the Bush administration had relied too heavily on the 43
promises from other nations that they would vote to keep the United
States on the panel. Such vows are regularly broken.

Tonight General Powell said he was "reviewing the vote to see if we
were not anticipating things right." But he declined to release a
list of the countries, 14 of which voted for other nations. "I think
that would just complicate our relations with those countries," he
said.

He also defended the diplomat temporarily running the United States
mission at the United Nations, James Cunningham. "He's no rookie,"
General Powell said. "We just have to take our hit and move on."

The loss of the seat on the Human Rights Commission has a practical
effect: The United States cannot sponsor resolutions within the
group, like the resolutions it offered up earlier this year
condemning China and Cuba for their human rights violations. The
China resolution failed; the Cuba resolution passed.

Now at least for the next year, those countries do not have to worry
about dealing directly with the Bush administration. If the United
States wants to renew those resolutions next year, it must find
another country on the committee to act as the main sponsor, and the
United States will not be able to vote.

The loss of the seat on the International Narcotics Control Board has
a less dramatic effect. The 13-member board monitors compliance with
United Nations' drug conventions on trafficking and substance abuse,
but has little real power. Herbert Okun, the American representative
for the past decade, was voted off the panel. Iran, Brazil, Peru,
India, the Netherlands, France and Austria were elected to the board.

General Powell said tonight that "A lot of this has to do with the
aggressiveness with which we have pressed our human rights agenda."
But he said "we will continue to show that aggressiveness this year."

Harder to measure, however, is whether the vote was also a reflection
of mounting resentment over America's role as the world's sole
superpower, and the Bush administration's suggestions that it would
walk away from the Kyoto treaty on global warming and eventually
replace the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty.

When the United Nations vote took place on Thursday, Congress was
just going out of session for the weekend, so the reaction was
delayed. But when it reconvened today, the anger at the United
Nations was not limited to its conservative critics.

Representative Tom Lantos of California, the ranking Democrat on the
House International Affairs committee, reached the accord on back
dues with Henry J. Hyde, the Republican chairman of the committee.
"The vote to exclude the U.S. from the U.N.H.R.C. last week was
outrageous and only damaged the institution and undermined the cause
of human rights worldwide," he said. But he added, "We should not
compound the damage by withholding the bulk of our arrears payments
to the United Nations."