Vision for the UN

Kofi Annan, the new secretary-general of the United Nations, came to Washington last week in response to two invitations. One was from President Bill Clinton, who promised to pay up U.S. arrears promptly and in full and suggested that Mr. Kofi work on UN reform with Senator Jesse Helms, who is holding the money hostage. The other came from Mr. Helms himself, with whom Mr. Annan set about seeking a common program of reform in a climate considerably warmer than those looking for tension between them had anticipated.

People commonly speak of reform as involving painful but conceivably salutary downsizing of a swollen bureaucracy that long ago slipped the control of its ostensible masters, the world body's members. Here it is necessary to parse Mr. Helms's own published thoughts.

He sees the United Nations not simply as bloated but as encroaching dangerously and purposefully on the sovereignty of member nations. His favored remedy is to cut the bureaucracy by half and the Secretariat's budget by, yes, 75 percent, and otherwise let members pay for just the items they choose -- diplomacy a la carte. Reform yourself in this fashion, he advises the United Nations in an ultimatum, or die.

In fact, to reform in this fashion is what most people would already consider death. But let us not jump to dire conclusions. Mr. Helms offered these thoughts in a moment of angry pursuit of Mr. Annan's predecessor, Boutros Boutros Ghali.

Mr. Annan takes office not only with a sharp mind, a nice touch and a sense of political realism, but also with an appreciation of the services that a reformed United Nations can perform for all its members in development, the easing of conflicts, peacekeeping and other areas.

-- The Washington Post