(Updates with U.N. rolls back on figures) By Irwin Arieff UNITED NATIONS, Jan 31 (Reuters) - A panicked United Nations backed away on Wednesday from a charge that most top officials had refused a request by new U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon to resign so he could get a new team in place. U.N. officials first announced that 38 of 58 senior officials had defied a request from Ban to submit their resignations to make way for new appointees. They later rowed back from those figures, saying just two out of 55 had failed to tender their resignations as requested. Chief U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas apologized to reporters, saying higher-ups, whom she would not identify, had given her the wrong information. The incident marked the third time since Ban took office on Jan. 1 that the world body has had to scramble to correct misinformation. It took days for Ban and his senior aides to fully explain his policy on the death penalty after the secretary-general responded to the execution of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein by saying it was up to member-nations to decide on capital punishment. After criticism from human rights groups, Ban explained that he backed the growing international trend to phase out capital punishment. The United Nations also backpedaled within days from a Ban promise to order outside audits of all U.N. funds and programs, saying only some programs would be audited by a U.N. body. Ban's Jan. 4 request for resignations applied to people working at the level of undersecretary-general or assistant secretary-general. Montas said late on Wednesday the letters were requested from 55 individuals and not 58. There was no explanation for the discrepancy between the initial report of 38 refusals and the later report of just two. Ban, who is traveling in Africa this week, has named just a few top appointees so far but may announce others next week. Like his predecessor Kofi Annan, Ban has made U.N. reform a priority, in hopes of making the organization more efficient, flexible and responsive to U.N. member-states. Developing nations, the majority of the U.N. membership, have greeted his first reform proposals with skepticism. The proposals, which the 192-nation General Assembly would have to approve, would restructure the political affairs, peacekeeping and disarmament departments.
