Clinton promises to try harder to clear UN dues

WASHINGTON, March 12: United States President Bill Clinton has promised to try harder to clear Washington’s 1.3 billion dollar arrears to the United Nations, Secretary General Kofi Annan said today.

Kofi, who met Clinton and his top security advisers, on his two-day visit here, said the US President had assured him of greater efforts to clear off the US debt, blocked by the Congress, which wants a UN assurance that funds for family planning would not be used for any anti-abortion programmes.

Annan is also expected to apprise Clinton of his recent deal with Iraq which staved off an imminent airstrike on Iraq and paved the way for UN access to Iraqi Presidential sites.