Negroponte Presents His Credentials

UNITED NATIONS — John D. Negroponte, the new American ambassador to the United Nations, presented his credentials Wednesday, said he wanted to build a coalition against terrorism--and got a $31-million check from media magnate Ted Turner.

The United States had been without a chief U.N. representative since Richard Holbrooke ended his term in January. The U.S. Senate finally approved Negroponte’s nomination last Friday so he could mobilize international support for President Bush’s campaign against terrorism after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

In an unusual political financing procedure, Turner is paying funds, out of his own pocket, toward U.S. dues to the United Nations after Congress refused to do so.

The payments are to make up the difference between what the General Assembly decided last year when it agreed to lower U.S. contributions to the United Nations and what conservatives in Congress had offered to pay.

The funds are separate from a $582-million payment Congress is expected to approve next week toward the $1.7-billion debt the world body says Washington owes.

The U.S. Senate is also holding up money for recent peacekeeping expenses because of its perception of problems in Sierra Leone and East Timor.

Negroponte told U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan he had arrived at a critical time, adding that everyone was “working hard to form this international coalition against terrorism.”

Negroponte is a former ambassador to Honduras, Mexico and the Philippines.