
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 25, 1995                   TAG: 9510250075
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

WORLD BODY

THE UNITED NATIONS has been celebrating its 50th anniversary this past week amid questions about whether it will survive another 50 years. This imperfect organization will survive if member nations - including the United States - recognize and act on its potential.

One might have assumed these would be happier times for the world body, what with the end of the Cold War's strain on the organization, and the international community's continuing integration economically, environmentally, technologically and in other ways.

Unfortunately, the United Nations is reeling from the ineffectiveness of overambitious peacekeeping efforts in Bosnia and Somalia. It still is burdened with bloated bureaucracy and wasteful mismanagement. And it teeters on the brink of financial collapse.

The U.N. now is in debt to the tune of about $3.7 billion, much of it resulting from an enormous expansion of peacekeeping operations. The United States - and every American should be ashamed of this - owes $1.4 billion in past dues.

Yes, the U.N. should reduce the assessment on the United States for peacekeeping costs, to a share more consistent with the current distribution of wealth around the world.

Yes, the Security Council needs to be reorganized into better conformance with contemporary, as opposed to 1945, realities of power among nations.

Yes, the U.N. must cut waste, mismanagement, overlapping programs and patronage in the secretariat and agencies.

Yes, it must be practical about what it can and cannot do. It shouldn't be dumped, for example, with major military problems that the West is afraid to confront. Nor can it rebuild nations from Third World basket cases.

Yes, all the above is true. But it is also true that the United Nations isn't a world government. It can achieve only what its member states resolve, and muster the necessary leadership and support, to accomplish. It is true, too, that the planet would be considerably worse off without the United Nations.

America needs to throw off its isolationism and work to improve the U.N., to make it more effective. A good start would be to pay our bills.

by CNB