Assembly asked to decide on unpaid UN dues of former Yugoslavia

Seeking to resolve the issue of unpaid United Nations dues by a country that longer exists - the former Yugoslavia - Secretary-General Kofi Annan has proposed a number of solutions to the problem and asked the UN General Assembly to act on the matter.

According to a document released today at UN Headquarters in New York, the amount at issue is over $16.2 million.

In laying out different options to deal with the problem, the Secretary-General suggests that consistent with the position of the five successor States, the Assembly may wish to approve the write-off of the amounts in question.

Alternatively, he says, the Assembly might decide to seek payment from the successor States of all or part of these arrears.