PM Singh sounded out for Kofi Annan's job

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been sounded out unofficially for the post of United Nations Secretary-General, which will fall vacant at the end of the year when Kofi Annan completes his two terms in office.

It could not be ascertained whether Singh has refused the offer categorically or left it hanging, to be picked up later in the year in case the current move within the Congress Party to increase the pressure against him gathers ground over the next few weeks.

The search for Annan's successor has begun in earnest, with the all-powerful UN Security Council having held a meeting at the instance of US ambassador John Bolton to discuss the issue and, as the envoy said, "get a sense of where the Council is" on the matter.

Singh's international image is extremely good, according to sources who pointed out that if he agrees his candidature would be accepted by all permanent members of the Security Council namely the United States, Britain, France and Russia; with China being the only uncertainty.

Western diplomats based in New Delhi have often told this correspondent that Singh is widely respected as an economist and for bringing to his job "the very popular self-effacing Indian style of functioning."

Singh could have a rival in British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is also a Washington favourite for the post. Blair is currently facing strong opposition at home, and is dogged by rumours that he might have to step down to make way for a more acceptable candidate to lead his government and the Labour Party into the next elections.

Blair rival

The BBC had in fact interviewed former US President Bill Clinton on the subject, and in response to a direct question on Blair's candidature for the top UN post, he had said: "That would suit me, he would be a good one."

What does not, however, stand in the British Prime Minister's favour is the unspoken rule that the UN Secretary-General should be drawn from countries outside the Permanent Five, and that the choice this time is settling on Asia. The last UN Secretary-General from this continent was in 1961-71, when Burma's U Thant served for two terms.

The 114-member nonaligned movement, the 54-member Asian group and the 53-member African Union have all publicly come out in support of a candidate from Asia.

The three candidates who have formally thrown their hats into the ring are Thailand's deputy prime minister Surakiart Sathirathai, Sri Lanka's Jayantha Dhanapal, who was also UN undersecretary-general for disarmament, and South Korean foreign minister Ban Ki-Moon.