A Test for the UN

The bloodshed and suffering in the former Yugoslavia are providing the United Nations with a definitive test that will determine what role the body will play in the emerging post-Cold War word. Time, however, is running out. The world is now witnessing the takeover of an independent nation and the murder and displacement of much of its population. If the U.N. allows this to continue, then by its own inaction, it will have relegated itself to the role of a glorified bystander, unable even to defend the sovereignty of one of its member states.

The U.N. and the world have to this point shown in immoral degree of patience with the Serbian invasion and the "ethnic cleansing" effort. As reports of atrocities have seeped out of Bosnia. The U.N. and individual nations have reacted with frustrating sluggishness.

When British Prime Minister John Major heard reports that Serbs were herding Croats and Muslims into sealed box cars destined for concentration camps, he called for an international conference to convene not immediately but at the end of August; Neville Chamberlain would be proud. Similarly, President Bush, when presented with a serious plan for action by the Clinton campaign, mocked it as "reckless" through his spokesperson.

The U.N. as a whole has done no better. As Serbia's federal army and Serb irregulars ravage the recently independent states of Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina, both now full members of the U.N. the United Nations Secretary General and Security Council have responded with nothing but meaningless proclamations. The sparse U.N. forces in the war zone have been a laughing-stock, closing down its operations whenever mortar rounds fall too near and suffering the injury of their own soldiers without a peep.

Secretary Boutros Boutros-Ghali complained about the attention the Balkan war was receiving in contrast with the Somalian famine, calling it a "rich man's war." While Boutros-Ghali's rage at the lack of action on Somalia is understandable, his statement is reprehensible. As Secretary General, his job is tolead and marshal support for U.N. efforts, not to diminish one tragedy in the face of another. At a time when inspiring leadership is needed at the U.N., Boutros-Ghali has sunk to the level of ridiculous name-calling.

Meanwhile, Bosnia, which had been a model of ethnic harmony, is being savagely pulled into ethnic zones, with the Serbs controlling the vast majority of Bosnian territory. Media coverage of this tragedy has forced the U.N. to offer at least the appearance of action. Yet even recent moderate moves by the United Nations have been sparked not by its own leadership, but rather by the dramatic trip of French president Francois Mitterand into warn-torn Sarajevo. The French, along with the Germans, seem to be trying to fill the vacuum of outside leadership that has characterized the fighting in Croatia and Bosnia.

The need for a nation-state to take the lead demonstrates the impotence of the current United Nations. This impotence was understandable during the Cold War, with the dominating and polarizing influence of NATO and the Warsaw Pact making only the most tepid action possible.

Today, the U.N is simply acting with cowardice. The fall of the Soviet bloc has freed the United Nations from the restrictions of the Cold War and has offered it the chance to be a major force in shaping the post-Cold War world. So far, the offer has been politely declined.

Though President Bush gloried in the internationalism of the Gulf War, the U.N. was clearly following the lead of the United States when it came to authorizing military action. Even the help the U.N. did gave was extracted painfully through months of bartering, pleading and pressure by President Bush.

The U.N.'s reluctance to act decisively even in the face of Iraq's blatant aggression should have warned the world of its incompetence in handling the current Balkan crisis on its own.

If the United Nations can find the will to repair what damage it can in the Balkans, there may still be hope. This will not be easy and it will require significant force. The Serb artillery in the hills can be silenced by air power, but pushing the Serbs out of tof Bosnia they hold can only be accomplished by ground troops. Strong action by the United Nations will save the people of Bosnia from further horrors while setting a precedent for future united world action.

However, if the United Nations continues its path of indecision and indifference, the message will be clear: The world is not yet ready for a real United Nations. Individual nations, and especially the powerful democracies, have not yet developed the will to lead the world in causes they perceived as not directly in their interest.

Until nations recognize that the peace, security and human rights of all nations, the weak as well as the powerful, are in their individual interests, the Kuwaits will be rescued and the Bosnias will bleed.