FOR the first amt tn Ito history the United Nations has atee ted > sec reLary-genera I who la. at least geographically, an African.

However, as the term to commonly understood. Butros Butros Ghali to — aa one die grunt led sub-Saharan dlplo mat remarked — 'about aa African aa Saddam Hussein or South African President F W. de Klerk."

Ohali. Egypt's respected Deputy Prime Minister for Foreign Affaire, succeeds Javier Perez de Cuellar of Peru for the five-year term from January 1. 1992 to December 31. 1996 He to the sixth aec re tary-general and the flrat Arab since the UN sms founded tn 1945

After he won the long de bated recommendation of the 15-nation Security Council, hto election by the 166-member General Assembly was assured

Ghallemerged triumphant from a field of dozens. Never theless. hts election was hedged with reservations, some certain to persist as an undercurrent of discontent throughout his term.

Broadly, the contest pitted those who insisted It was "African's turn" against those who wanted a wide-open race. Ever since African nations be came the UN’s numerically dominant bloc, they have aspired to Its highest office.

Partly because of intra-mu-ral squabbling, they always lost out. most recently to Perez de Cuellar. Also, neither rules nor tradition dictate the geographical rotation of the post, unlike, for example, in the case of General Assembly presidency.

This time. Africans were on firmer ground. With the two terms of Perez de Cuellar, a Latin American, every other major geographical region had held the post. Europe — in UN parlance that Includes the United States and other Western countries — has been rep-

resented by Trygve Lie of Norway. Dag Hammarskjold of Sweden and Kurt Waldheim of Austria. and Asia by U Thant of Burma

Also strengthening Africa s hand was the pledge of China, buttressed by its Security Council veto power, to hold out for an African. This time too. the Africans changed their strategy

The Organisation of African Unity (OAU) formally nom! naled six candidates The rationale was that if the powerful Western bloc rejected all six it would lay Itself open to charges of ethnic dlscrimina tton

Following the OAU lead, the 106 members of the Non aligned Movement and the 46 members of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference approved the six. Later, two other African countries unilat erally announced candidacies

Supporters of the OAU list threatened that unless the Security Council approved an African. Ito recommendation would be rejected by the Gen era! Assembly, which has the final word. The Africans would have had no trouble rallying the simple majority necessary to approve or reject. Thus, the Assembly-Security Council candidate shuttle could have continued until the Council sent up a name acceptable to the African bloc.

Neither the US nor Britain, both of which wield veto power, was enthusiastic about an African. None of those from the sub Sahara was considered to have the diplomatic and administrative qualifications or to enjoy the international status required.

Besides Ghali. the OAU candidates included Finance Minister Bernard Chidzero of Zimbabwe and Olusegun Obasanjo, a one-time Nigerian head of state. The three others, all UN officials, were Kenneth Dadzle of Ohana. James Jonah of Sierre Leone and Michel Doo Klngue of Cameroon. The two who entered the race on their own were Nguema Francois Owono. an official from Gabon, and former Burundi diplomat Msanze Terrence

Faced with a determined African power bloc, opposition weakened. Ghali was accepted with neither the pro — nor antl-Afrlcan factions fully satisfied

Nevertheless, he was a compromise that ail five veto wielding Council members could rationalise accepting. China had fulfilled its pledge to

hold out for an African. The US and Britain decided they could live with htm. France had sup ported Ghah from the outset The Soviet Union, awash with domestic crises, was willing to go along with any majority decision.

Predictably, earlier reservations about Ghali were buried in post-election expressions of satisfaction of varying sincerity In the customary facade of solidarity. Africans closed ranks

Ibrahim Gambarl — Nigeria's UN ambassador and current OAU president who himself was at one point considered a candidate, commented of Ghali's election: "We wanted someone nominated by the Or gantsation of African Unity, and we go that. Africa's victory is a real one."

Privately, black Africans made no secret of their preference for a fellow sub-Saharan. It was explained that the inclusion of an Egyptian on the OAU list merely reflected the membership of other North African Arab states and the need to woo Arab and Islamic support from outside the con tlnent.

The outcome was a setback to hopes that Chidzero would get the job. In the secret straw votes taken over several weeks to narrow the field, he had runneck-and-neck with Ghali And at one point he held an 11-10 lead. France was said to have engineered the last-minute defection of four Chidzero supporters.

That cut his backing in the decisive formal voting the night of November 2 1 to seven — two below the nine needed

to stay in the race. Because all voting to secret, It was impossible to be certain who were the defectors A suspicion was that the US refused to support Chidzero because of his advocacy of economic statism. a concept vociferously opposed by US President George Bush.

Yemen, which has condemned Cairo's peace pact with Israel and Ito Persian Gulf war support, was almost certainly a defector Yet its objections were among the most persuasive issue in winning Ghali s support from Washing ton and London, the Gulf war’s two hard-liners and friends of Israel.

French backing for Ghalis-temmed in part from his unabashed FrancophiHa. Aside from hto warm ties with Parts officialdom, he speaks French as well as he does English and hto native Arabic. Fluency in French was a condition imposed by France in the selection.

Ghall's diplomatic credentials are rooted principally tn the key role he played as President Anwar Sadat's right hand man In the talks that led to the signing In 1979 of the treaty ending 30 years of war between Egypt and Israel.

To this day. the pact is the only such accord between the Jewish state and its Arab neighbours Two years earlier, he had accompanied Sadat as deputy foreign minister In the president's historic breakthrough trip to Jerusalem, a surprise visit that startled the world and paved the way to the treaty.

The peace pact resulted in Egypt being ousted from the outraged OAU Ghah was credited with negotiating Egypt's readmission to the regional organisation He was also influential In winning the release from a South African prison of Nelson Mandela the African National Congress leader.

Under the UN Charter. Ghah to an international civil servant with no greater loyalty or attachment to Egypt thw to any of the organisation's 166 other member states. Nevertheless. it to not particularly comforting to Israel that the two top ranking UN officials — Ghali and the current General Assembly president. Samir Shihabi of Saudi Arabia — are Arabs. However. Israeli diplomats said after Ghali s election that he was "fafr-minded*.

Though he to an Arab. Ghah to a Coptic Christian. and his wife to Jewish. A main reservation about him to his age. At 69. he to the oldest candidate to hold the post Perez de Cuellar, two years his Junior, was 10 years younger when he took over.

Questions have .too been raised about whether Ghah to physically strong enough to meet the gruelling duties. He was Incapaclted for months by a liver abscess two years ago.

But it was pointed out that Perez de Cuellar, who under went heart bypass surgery a few years ago. has followed a daunting regime, including a bruising schedule of global travel.

Ghali. a sophisticated. Westernised scholar, is a professor of International law. a Fulbright scholar at Columbia University tn New York and the author of scores of publications. He to the scion of one of Egypt's most distinguished Coptic families

— GEMINI NEWS

7TD MORELLO Is a UN correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor.