UNITED NATIONS, Feb 20 (AFP) - The UN`s top refugees official, Dutch ex-prime minister Ruud Lubbers, has resigned amid sexual harassment allegations, a UN spokesman confirmed on Sunday.
"The Secretary-General has accepted the resignation of Ruud Lubbers as High Commissioner for Refugees. He wants to take this opportunity to thank the High Commissioner for the devotion and the commitment he has shown to refugees and the office of the High Commissioner over the past four years," Secretary General Kofi Annan`s spokesman said.
"However, the Secretary-General is convinced that it is in the best interest of UNHCR, its staff and the refugees it serves that the page be turned and a new chapter be started.
"While the Secretary-General had accepted legal advice that the original allegations made against Mr. Lubbers could not be substantiated, the continuing controversy has made the High Commissioner`s position impossible. He is therefore pleased that Mr. Lubbers has made this decision in the wider interest of UNHCR," the spokesman added.
"For more than four years, I gave all my energy to UNHCR. UNHCR and its staff were an asset to the UN family. Now, in the middle of a series of problems and with ongoing media pressure, you apparently view this differently. To be frank, and despite all my loyalty, insult has been added to injury and therefore I resign as High Commissioner," Lubbers wrote in his letter to UN Annan.
Lubbers had on Friday refused to resign after a meeting with Annan, which came hours after Britain`s Independent newspaper published lurid details from a confidential report into his behaviour.
At a bizarre press appearance that UN officials privately described as an embarrassment, the 65-year-old Dutchman, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said he was merely "friendly to women."
He also hinted that at least some of the report had been fabricated, and that only a small part of the meeting with Annan was devoted to the Independent`s revelations.
After reviewing the report and taking legal advice, Annan had taken no action against the Dutchman but sent him a letter of reprimand.
In the press appearance that left UN staff bewildered and embarrassed, Lubbers said he would not resign, after meeting with Annan.
Lubbers demonstrated on a journalist how he said he had escorted a woman out of a meeting at his Geneva headquarters, which led to the initial harassment allegation last year.
"I ushered the lady out of the room with my hand on her back. And that was all," said Lubbers. "You could call it familiar but certainly not sexual harassment."
He added: "I might be friendly to women," but said that was a sign of good "gentlemanship."
He said he had spoken only "shortly" with Annan about the issue, but Annan`s office issued a statement saying that the "main focus was Mr Lubbers` future in the organization, particularly in light of recent developments -- including today`s press coverage."
Insiders said that Lubbers would have to answer charges about his behaviour in the coming weeks.
The resurfacing of the Lubbers case comes with the United Nations already battling public relations problems over the oil-for-food programme in Iraq and sexual acts with girls by UN peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
02/20/2005 22:14 GMT - AFP