UNDETERRED by the global wave of hostility that greeted his recent arrival in New York, John Bolton, America’s ambassador to the United Nations, will “come out blazing” this week with new demands for reform, according to US officials.

Bolton was said to be both angry and frustrated at the spectacle of some of the world’s most notorious dictators lining up to condemn America at last week’s summit on poverty and organisational reform.

A watered-down agreement approved by the general assembly on Friday night fell short of Washington’s goals for an overhaul of the scandal-plagued UN.

Many delegates blamed Bolton for demanding more than 400 changes to the draft accord, which laid out goals for reducing poverty and making the UN more efficient and accountable.

The comparatively bold proposals of the draft were gutted as diplomats struggled to find a compromise to save the summit from collapse.

Washington is determined not to let the reform issue die as the world leaders disperse this weekend. “The United Nations must launch a lasting revolution of reform,” Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, declared yesterday.

Bolton intends to single out the UN Commission on Human Rights as the most urgent candidate for reform. America has long complained that the presence on the commission of undemocratic countries such as Sudan, Cuba, Zimbabwe and Libya has made a mockery of its mission.

Although the assembly agreed to create a new human rights council, it failed to specify measures that would exclude oppressive regimes from membership.

“We cannot let this little step (creating a council) satisfy the rest of the UN,” said Rick Grenell, a spokesman for the US mission. “We’re going to make sure we’ve got a human rights council that’s got bite. We’re already having an internal meeting about where we go from here.”

Bolton believes the UN has made such a mess of its attempts to reform itself that he should now “make himself unpopular”.

That may mean a return to the rhetoric that made him such an inflammatory choice as ambassador — notably, his remark that if the UN building lost 10 floors “it wouldn’t make a difference”.

Explore World News

• World Agenda

• Iraq News

• US & Americas News

• Europe News

• Middle East News

• Afghanistan News

• Asia News

• Africa News

• Ireland News

Times Recommends

• UN may halt 400-year-old 'freedom of the seas'
• Where the Rosetta belongs can’t be set in stone
• Gas deal on hold, but Ukraine may pay in the end