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Holbrooke sworn in as U.N. ambassador
August 25, 1999 UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- After 14 months of waiting, Richard Holbrooke was sworn in as the new U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Wednesday at the U.S. mission in New York in a low-key ceremony. Holbrooke took an oath and signed a document accepting his appointment. He will have a formal ceremonial swearing-in by President Bill Clinton at a later date. After two days of "getting to know the building," as one Holbrooke associate put it, he'll leave Friday for a whirlwind tour of the Balkan region where he has played a key role. He was a Nobel Peace Prize nominee for his work on the 1995 Dayton peace accords that ended Bosnia's civil war. The peacekeeping operation in Kosovo, where Holbrooke will visit along with Bosnia, Albania and Macedonia, is a major undertaking by the United Nations. The new ambassador also wants to meet this week with U.N. Security Council ambassadors and with people in the mission. He will also meet with other non-Security Council members, such as Germany, and others with whom Holbrooke has previous relationships. Iraq and Washington's unpaid U.N. dues are two issues likely to be discussed at Holbrooke's meetings. The U.S. owes more than $1 billion in arrears. Before becoming an ambassador, Holbrooke was an investment banker, Holbrooke is a former Peace Corps director, ambassador to Germany and assistant secretary of state. The U.S. seat at the United Nations has been vacant for nearly a year, and Holbrooke faces a host of issues, including explaining why the United States remains over $1 billion in arrears with its U.N. dues, help end a Security Council standoff on Iraq, assert authority on peacekeeping in Kosovo and deal with hostility toward the United Nations from conservatives in Congress. Holbrooke will be on the road a lot in his new post. He has long held a strong interest, for instance, in working out a settlement for Cyprus, the divided Mediterranean island partly occupied by Turkish troops for 25 years. He is also likely to work closely with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, as State Department spokesman James Foley stressed that Holbrooke's role in the months ahead "will emerge from his conversations with Secretary Albright." Nomination blocked by ethical and political questionsWhile Holbrooke always appeared to have overwhelming support in the Senate, his nomination to be the top U.S. representative at the United Nations was blocked by repeated delays due to ethical questions and Senate politics. . For the first eight months, the nomination was held up by State Department and Justice Department ethics investigations into Holbrooke's business contacts. The ethical allegations involved private-sector contacts Holbrooke had and speaking fees he received after leaving the State Department for the private sector in 1996. Holbrooke paid $5,000 to resolve most of the allegations, but without admitting wrongdoing. Then his nomination was delayed by series of parliamentary maneuvers by individual senators to delay a final vote as a lever to resolve unrelated disputes. The last hurdle blocking Holbrooke's confirmation was overcome earlier this month when Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) announced he was releasing his "hold" that had prevented a Senate vote. Grassley said he was transferring the delaying tactics to three other ambassadorial appointments in an unrelated dispute with the State Department. Three other senators also had sought at times to block the nomination -- Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Mississippi), Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) and Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio). The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
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