www.BPODigest.com i-Vortal

British agents spied on Kofi Annan

In a sensational revelation, a former minister claimed that Britain had spied on the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in the run-up to the Iraqi war, a charge immediately rejected by Prime Minister Tony Blair who termed it "deeply irresponsible."

"The UK in this time was also getting, spying on Kofi Annan's office and getting reports from him about what was going on," said Claire Short, who resigned as International Development Secretary protesting Britain's decison to join the US-led invasion of Iraq.

She made the revelation in an interview while commenting on the government's decision to drop legal proceedings under Official Secrets Act against Katharine Gun, a former translator with the British spy center who leaked a confidential memo raising concerns about spying in the United Nations.

Blair told a press conference at Downing street that "we and previous governmnets have never commented on intelligence exept to say that this country acts in accordance with domestic and international law."

He said "I think the fact that those allegations were made I think is deeply irresponsible."

Short, asked whether British spies had been instructed to carry out operations within the United Nations on people such as Kofi Annan, said: "Yes, absolutely."

"I know, I have seen transcripts of Kofi Annan's conversations," she said.

Source: 'British agents spied on Kofi Annan' - Sify.com

UN Chief is being spied, where's the world heading. UN is already being mocked by America and now this controversy will take away the confidence of the world in UN and its ability.