Sir Brian Urquhart on the Boutros-Ghali Affair

...Under Article XV of the UN Charter, "the Secretarv General shall be appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council" But the real power of appointment re-sides with the 15-nation Council's five permanent members—the United States, the United Kingdom, France, China, and Russia—who each possess a veto And tensions have been mounting over the issue since last June 19, the day "officials in Washington went public with the news that President Bill Clinton had made an irrevocable decision three months earlier to oppose giving another five-year term to the incumbent, Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt, when his present one ends December 31 That evening a defiant Secretary General, who will be 74 in November, broke a pledge he made before securing the office and announced that he will seek a second mandate The US contends that Boutros-Ghali is not capable of executing the reforms needed to revitalize and restore faith in the World Organization It also blames him for the disastrous failures of the peacekeeping missions in Somalia, Bos-nia and Rwanda Many here are dis-turbed by his seeming obsession with staying on despite Washington's objections At the same time, however, they are critical of US policy at the UN generally, and of Congress' withholding some $1.5 billion in back dues and special contributions specifically (Actually, by early September, only 90 member states were fully paid up) Thus far, neither the United States nor any other country has proposed a new candidate for the UN's top administrative post This has prompted speculation about whether we may yet see a replay of the 1950 dramatics involving Trygye Lie of Norway, the first of the six men who have served as Secretary General Because Lie opposed the Communist invasion of South Korea the Soviet Union and its allies retaliated by opposing his re-election When the USSR used its veto against Lie, the General Assembly at Washington's urging, got around the Charter's rules by simply extending his term for three years in January 1951 But the Soviet bloc refused to work with him, let alone recognize him as Secretanty General, and 26 months later Lie resigned For an informed assessment of the Boutros-Ghali crisis The New Leader GERTRUDE SAMUELS reports regularly on the United Nations for this magazine turned to Sir Brian Urquhart (pronounced er-kut), it ho held high-junking positions at the UN from 1946 until his retirement in 1986 Born Dorset England Sir Brian was educated at the Westminster School and Oxford University During World War II he served with the British Army in North Africa and Europe After participating from July 1945 to Match 1946 in the proceedings in London of the Preparatory Commission that created the UN he was Trygye Lie's personal assistant for three years The rest of his ca-reer had him assuming increasingly im-portant assignments in the Secretary General's office related to peacekeeping and security matters and from 1974 to 1986 he was Under Secretary General for Special Political Affairs Sir Brian has written numerous at tides and half a dozen books, including Hammarskjold (1972), A Life in Peace and War (1987) and with Erskine Chil-ders, A World in Need of Leadership Tomorrow's United Nations (1990), just reissued in a revised edition He travels widely teaching and counseling on his favorite subject The following exchange took place in his office at the Ford Foundation, where he has been a Scholar-in-Residence and is now a consultant Casually dressed and youthfully brisk at 77 the white-haired Sir Brian speaks quiety but there is no mistaking the passion in his eyes as he discusses the Boutros-Ghali brouhaha Samuels The UN Charter says the Secretary General is the Chief Administrative Officer of the UN But what is his real role...

...Sir Brian There are two kinds of reforms Those the Secretary General can carry out are very limited, and Boutros-Ghali has done virtually all that he could He has reduced the number of senior officials, he has an efficiency plan going that has certainly made a difference, he's reduced the budget, and he's put in a hiring freeze More fundamental reform has to come from the member governments They alone can change the structure of the UN, redefine its mission, and provide whatever it is lacking They have made no seri-ous proposals That's outrageous I don't think Boutros-Ghali is a good manager, but he has tried very hard It's very difficult to reform an organization that is constantly being bankrupted by the people who are supposed to pay for it The UN is $3 billion in arrears and it cannot borrow It's not easy to run Samuels What's to be done...

...Sir Brian There is Sadako Ogata, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Or Mary Robinson, President of Ireland Or Anneli Tama, the Finnish Minister of Defense Or Gro Hailem Brundtland, Prime Minister of Norway and former head of the UN Environment Commission There's no shortage of excellent women Samuels Why is the UN apparently so unpopular in America...

...has shown very little support for the UN Its posture has created the impression that the organization is hopeless Yet if you look at the UN record in the last five years, it has done 17 emergency operations and only three didn't go very well—Somalia, Bosnia and Rwanda Now who is to blame for that...

...Sir Brian The UN will continue, but in a very handicapped way I don't think this is going to happen I think wiser voices and common sense will eventually prevail If you remember, we set up the League of Nations in 1919 That also was the creation of the United States, pure and simple—the brainchild of Woodrow Wilson, the product of four murderous years of World War I We were supposed to learn the lesson of those years, and then we walked away from the League And because we abandoned the notion of collective security, and collective action, we had World War II I don't think we will walk away again Of course, the enemies are quite different now, but the potential for disaster is even greater We have invented innumerable ways of putting an end to the human experiment altogether in the last 50 years It isn't just nuclear weapons We've invented a globalized world through technology consisting of mass opinion, global capital markets, mass travel, and so on Anyone who believes this world can simply run on satisfactorily without some kind of rules, and some kind of surveillance, is living in a very dangerous dreamworld Samuels Thank you...

...Sir Brian My own feeling is that the veto should not apply to the recommendation of a Secretary General In exchange, nationals of the Security Council's five permanent members should be eligible to become Secretary General, which they aren't now I think it would surely help if Boutros-Ghah's successor were a charismatic, extremely able man or woman, who could both pull the organization together and get the message across about what it is that makes the UN essential to the future But first the governments have got to decide whether they want a Secretary General who is strong, independent and a leader Samuels Why hasn't a qualified woman ever been elected to the post...

...The United States Samuels So what really needs to be looked at Sir Brian is why the United Nations is important to the United States It is a very enabling, legitimizing body?an important place where you can share the burdens, where you can push the great issues and really get a constituency going The United States always used it for that But it's also a place where you can share the burden of keeping the peace Samuels What will happen if the Boutros-Ghali affair further heightens what you yourself called "a major crisis of confidence and credibility" in the UN, especially on the part of US policymakers...

...Sir Brian: Yes, to some extent This is not something new Secretaries General have always been very useful lightning rods I can think of hundreds of cases But it is wrong to imply that the shortcomings and failures of the UN are entirely the fault of this Secretary General That just isn't so I don't happen to feel strongly, one way or another about Boutros-Ghali I don't think he's the ideal Secretary General There is a very good argument for having someone new succeed him The American approach, though, is simply not the way to do it Samuels You mentioned that Boutros-Ghali has been reforming the UN, and have written extensively yourself on the subject But is the need being properly met...

...He is expected to be a leader by governments when they want him to act on something they are interested in Of course, now it's fashionable to think he shouldn't be a leader or an independent person This is a throwback to the time of Dag Hammarskjold [the second Secretary General] In those days, it was the Soviet Union and French President Charles de Gaulle who objected to an independent leader Now it appears to be a lot of people in Washington I think that's rather pathetic Samuels How do you view the American public rejection of Boutros-Ghali...

...Sir Brian - The best description was given by Franklin Roosevelt, who said he should be called the Moderator That was turned down because there already was the Moderator of the Church of Scotland and it could cause confusion Still, he does have to run the organization But he's the world's umpire and referee, too That's also his job though I'm not sure people think so anymore Samuels How much of a leader is the Secretary General expected to be...

...The Security Council Who said what those operations should do...

...What about the UN disasters in Somalia, Bosnia, Rwanda...

...The Security Council Who said how many troops were to be sent to those operations...

...Sir Brian It isn't so unpopular If you look at the opinion polls, the funny thing is that the UN is far more popular with the public at large than either the Congress or the Chief Executive I think its "being unpopular" is a figment of the media It has become the target of the new isolationists, of xenophobic groups who miss having the Soviet Union as the enemy That's how you get such nonsense as the UN "ordering American troops about," "dominating American policy" and so on It's pure claptrap...

...Sir Brian They have every right to re-ject Boutros-Ghali, but in the normal way—when the possibility of his re-elec-tion comes up To announce they 're going to veto him six months in advance, and make him a lame duck, is certainly something new—and a very great pity There's not very much doubt why it was done The reason given is that he hasn't instituted reforms In fact, he has been doing more to reform the UN than anybody, except for Hammarskjold The true reason is the Presidential election, and the UN has been put in a very difficult situation Nobody is going to suggest an alternative to Boutros-Ghali It would be foolish for America to do so at this point because people are upset, and very unlikely to pay attention It's a mess, no question I don t think it is a dignified way for the most powerful country to behave Samuels Is it only an election year ploy...

...The Secuntv Council And who runs the Security Council...

...Third World development, nuclear weapons policy, the peaceful uses of outer space, and the advancement of women Missing, though, is the one question that undoubtedly heads the private agendas of all 185 member states Who will be the next Secretary General of the United Nations...

...The five permanent members And who is the chief among them...

...HOW TO CHOOSE A SECRETARY GENERAL Sir Brian Urquhart on the Boutros-Ghali Affair BY GERTRUDE SAMUELS United Nations Soon after the 51st General As-sembly convened here Septembei 17for three months of deliberations, it adopted an agenda containing 150 items They cover such problems as peacekeeping, human rights violations...

...Sir Brian The real problem is the hap-hazard way a Secretary General is appointed There should be—as there is for any big institution or university or corporation—a whole procedure for appointing the chief executive The UN doesn't have this, and it's ridiculous In any event, I would suggest a single seven-year term for the office Samuels How do you feel about the use of the veto...

...But it is used with some success and even appears, for instance, in the Republican Party platform Which is unbelievable' There's a great deal of humbug about the UN in the United States I'm sorry to say that because, after all, Americans invented the UN It was the brainchild, in fact, of Franklin Roosevelt—that's something the United States should be very proud of Fifty years later, to suddenly have it libeled and portrayed in a totally absurd manner by quite serious politicians in Washington seems to me very sad I was pleased to see recently that a group of experts brought together by the Council on Foreign Relations dissented They pointed out that this foolish attitude is doing the United States considerable harm Particularly since the Cold War ended, the U.S...

...Who ordered those operations...

...Sir Brian There's the trouble...

...Sir Brian Well, that is another thing which strikes me as truly grotesque One of the principles of the Charter is the equality of the sexes Moreover, there are some extremely formidable women as potential candidates Samuels Such as...

...Sir Brian A lot could be done with the actual structure I believe there should be four deputy secretaries general running four main clusters of work, instead of the present 28 senior officials reporting to the Secretary General Similarly, some main activities—humanitarian relief, development and so on—should be consolidated into one group And the Secretariat's electronic equipment should be brought up to date Over and above such steps there are major things required of the Security Council, which I've suggested, for creating an effective rapid deployment force At the moment, it takes the UN up to five months to get into a disaster area What use is that...

...It took them over four months to get into Rwanda, after many people died If governments are so eager for reform, why don't they get on with it9 Samuels What's the alternative to the turmoil surrounding the selection of a Secretary General...

...Sir Brian About those debacles you have to ask the members of the Security Council They are the ones who voted the UN into those places, and then failed to provide the necessary resources When Boutros-Ghali specified what he needed in Bosnia to do the things he was asked to, he was told to go away and mind his own business Samuels Is the United States scape-goating him for the UN's failures...