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Seventy Nobel laureates have signed a letter backing U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who has weathered calls for his resignation amid a spate of scandals in recent months. The letter, supported by Peace Prize winners Jimmy Carter and Elie Wiesel, among others, was made public Thursday. It expresses the laureates'"deepest respect and support for Kofi Annan and the values he has embraced in his lifetime of work for peace and security." The idea for the letter was spearheaded by the Better World Campaign, a nonprofit group that seeks to improve appreciation for the United Nations. The group is a sister organization to the United Nations Foundation, created in 1998 toward fulfilling CNN founder Ted Turner's $1 billion pledge to support U.N. programs. U.N. Foundation press secretary Christina LoNigro said the push for the letter began in earnest in December when Annan, himself a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was under the most intense fire. Annan was sharply criticized for a string of U.N. scandals including allegations of corruption surrounding the oil-for-food program; claims that U.N. staff were guilty of sexual harassment; and investigations into sexual wrongdoing and other alleged crimes by U.N. peacekeepers. He has also been criticized for his son Kojo Annan's employment at a Swiss company that had an oil-for-food contract. Kojo Annan, who denies any involvement in wrongdoing, received payments from the Swiss firm for more than four years after his job ended. [more]

Annan Questioned Three Times in Oil-For-Food Probe [more]