>> Report on Tsunamis hits Asia

In an unusual move, the United Nations said Monday (Jan 10th) it would use an outside accounting firm to help track the billions of dollars pledged to help the victims of the tsunami in the Indian Ocean.

Officials denied that the move was in response to allegations of corruption and mismanagement in the Iraqi oil-for-food program for Iraq, which was administered by the United Nations.

Price-Waterhouse-Coopers has offered to help create a financial tracking system for the United Nations on a pro bono basis, said Kevin Kennedy, a senior official in the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

He told reporters the accounting firm would be able to investigate credible allegations of fraud, waste or abuse.

"In my experience of disasters it is the first time I can recall in the past 10 years that we have used an outside accounting firm, at least at this juncture," Kennedy said.

Kennedy said that he did not think humanitarian donors were being discouraged by the oil-for-food scandal from making contributions to those in need. The United Nations received more than US$2 billion from donor states in response to appeals in 2004, he said.

More than 50 internal U.N. audits of the humanitarian program published by an independent commission Sunday revealed widespread mismanagement and showed how U.N. agencies squandered millions of dollars through suspected overpayment to contractors, poor management of purchasing and assets, and fraud by its employees.

The United Nations already has a financial tracking system but Kennedy said the aim was to improve the way countries recorded their pledges.

Some US$4 billion has already been pledged by governments, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank for victims of the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami that swept across the Indian Ocean and killed at least 152,221 people. That figure includes not only cash for the humanitarian relief effort but also aid and loans for long-term development and reconstruction.

Canada increased its aid pledges to tsunami-hit Asian nations by nearly five times to US$348.5 million over five years, Prime Minister Paul Martin announced Monday.

The U.N. on Monday called on the countries that pledged to provide tsunami aid to fulfill their promises as soon as possible. Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman for then Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said the U.N. was expecting donor countries to formalize their pledges. The call came a day before the meeting of donors for tsunami-hit countries in Geneva.

Editor: Wing