NEW YORK Dec 11 Kofi An nan of Ghana who obtained the required votes for the top UN post Is a career UN official cur rently serving as Under Secre tary General for peace-keep!ng operation*

Ke appeared to meet two crucial preconditions, one set by the Americana and the other by the French

The US had indicated that It would prefer lo see the next Sec retary General In the role of an administrator not a world leader The French, on the other hand, had Insisted that who ever get* the top UN job must sjieak French

President Chirac aaid the next UN Secretary-General must be fluent In both English and French, which are the two working language* of the Orga nlzatlon Chirac said France would veto Salim Ahmed Salim of Tanzania, the current Secre tary-General of the Organiza tion of African Unity as he speaks very little French

This was disclosed Sunday by President Nelson Mandela ol South Africa Mandela felt

Salim whose name was not on the baTirn rmrld make a "grew* Secretary -General

Most observers think Annan Is more familiar with the ays tern and thus well placed to un dertake serious structural re forms of the UN something the Americans consider very im portant He la also fluent In French

Hie other candidates con sldered In yesterday * balloting were Ahmedou Ould AfMlallali of Mauritania former UN ape rial representative for Burundi and now a co c hairman of the Global Coalition for Africa Group in Washington Hamid Algabld ol Niger the Secretary General of the organization ol the Islamic Conference and Amara Essay of ivory ( oast currently foreign minister ol his country and a former Prvsi dent of the UN General Assem bly

There Is no written rule savuig that the UN Secretary General must lx elected from a particular region or serve lor two terms However as it has happened over the oast 25

years, the post is now rotated among various regional group*, with each Secretary General serving for two consecutive terms For example U Thant of Burma (I9«J 1071) was fol lowed try Kurt Waldheim (1972 1 'Ml 11 a Western European He wa* siKceeded by Javier Perez dr < uellar 119B2 1991) of Pent * South America In 1992 Mr Boutros Boutros-Ghali became the first African lo become the UN Secretary General

No one expects the tussle over the top UN Joli to be over alter Tueaday s Informal vot Ing Many obaerver* at the UN think that France which wu angered at the US veto of Boutro* Ghall may play Its veto < ard against any US spem sorrel < ar Hilda I r

Just to avoid such an occur mar Washington has main tamed clear distance from any of the four contenders Most countries would however like to avoid a drawn out battle tie Iwrrn the super powers which could further divide the Organization and weaken Its world standing

In 1991 China and USA fought the longest veto battle over the post pl the Secretary General china supported Salim Ahmed Salim who I* still remembered for his cprn jubilation after Beijing gained Taiwan * seat at the United Na tlon* In 1971 Washington vetoed hi* candidacy Iff times. China. In It* turn, blocked the election of Kurt Waldheim lor a third term try vetoing 15 time* The deadlock ws» finally broken when Javier Perez de Cue! lar a UN Under Secretary Gen era!, wa* < hosen aa a compro rniar candidate

Nothing like 1991 will oc cur again a *enlor US diplomat haa said Most observer* think most countries would try to avoid any further damage to the world body The current President ol the General A* sembly Razall Ismail ot Malaysia. has said he would like to have the election prexesa concluded before December 17. when the General Assembly goes into recess "Dir New Secre tary General will take up hl* job Ix-glrmlng next year