Bolton back at United Nations; wit and barbs intact

United Nations, Dec 7: US Ambassador John Bolton, whose temporary appointment ends shortly, was back at the United Nations on Tuesday, his wit and prickly relationship with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan intact.

Just hours after he made clear he would not seek a renewal on Monday, Bolton and his wife Gretchen attended a White House dinner in honor of Annan, who leaves office on December. 31, and his wife Nane.

Asked about a ''healing process'' with Annan, Bolton told reporters: ''Nope, nobody sang Kumbaya.'' The secretary-general has often been on the receiving end of Bolton's criticism, which senior officials have returned in kind.

Bolton, who spoke to reporters shortly before he voted in the UN Security Council on a Somalia resolution he drafted, was asked whether he had been offered a senior UN post.

Laughing, Bolton said, ''I don't expect to be offered, and if offered, I would not accept.'' Bolton's appointment ends at the end of the current Congressional term, expected this week or not later than January.

4. He told Bush he would resign from the administration after he was unable to satisfy Senate opponents, particularly Democrats, who last year blocked his nomination and won control of the Senate in November elections.

Facing the press, the only UN ambassador to do so daily, Bolton on Tuesday refused to answer any personal questions.

''I have consistently declined here to talk about my personal situation, and I am going to continue to decline that.

I want to talk about Somalia,'' Bolton said. He came to the United Nations in August 2004.

His deputy, Alejandro Wolff, will run the mission until a new ambassador is appointed.

Speculation on a successor has included Zalmay Khalilzad, the US Ambassador to Iraq; Richard Williamson, a former US deputy UN ambassador; Nicholas Burns and Paula Dobriansky, both undersecretaries at the State Department, among others.

Reuters