UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Danforth has resigned, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations said Thursday.
"He sent a letter Nov. 22 saying he wanted out at the end of the president's first term, to spend time with his family," an official at the mission told United Press International. "He would like to leave in January."
The resignation comes just one day after U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., who was leading the U.S. Congress probe into corruption and mismanagement in the U.N. administered oil-for-food program, called on U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to resign.
Bush administration officials Thursday refused to endorse Coleman's call for Annan to step aside, but did not offer any encouragement he would have U.S. backing.
A Japanese diplomat told UPI it was well known Danforth wanted to return home, saying the resignation was "not a surprise, just the timing of it."
Danforth, a former U.S. senator from Missouri, has only been on the job since winning Senate confirmation in June.
