On April 28 developing countries voted as a group at the United Nations to shelve management reforms proposed by Secretary General Kofi Annan in the wake of the oil-for-food scandal. Annan had requested more discretion and latitude in hiring, shifting and firing his staff, and controlling the organization's resources. The developing countries first want many more clarifications and reassurances.

The explanation for the developing countries' reservations is not that they are necessarily opposed to making the U.N. more effective. Rather, they are concerned about a power grab by the rich and powerful at their expense. They fear that if the General Assembly ceded control of the U.N. budget and staffing, the powers would quickly be appropriated by an ever more power-hungry Security Council.

In other words, the majority of the poor countries do not trust the secretary general to be able to resist the Security Council's relentless encroachments. India's ambassador Nirupam Sen complained recently that the secretary general has functioned as a secretary to the Security Council and a general to the General Assembly. Developing countries, which make up the numerical, and therefore voting, majority in the General Assembly but are largely ignored in the Security Council, want this reversed.