U.N.'s Boutros-Ghali Speaks at Leverett House

Economic development, not peacekeeping, should be the long-term focus of the United Nations, U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali said during a visit to Leverett House yesterday.

"As Secretary-General I have made a lot of mistakes," Boutros-Ghali said during a luncheon speech at Leverett Dining Hall. "One of them is speaking to you about peacekeeping when I should be talking about development."

During the speech and a later panel discussion in the dining hall, Boutros-Ghali emphasized that immediate peacekeeping functions have overshadowed economic development, the most important long-term goal of the U.N.

The secretary-general also stressed the importance of participation and support by the member nations to the U.N. effectiveness. The body becomes limited without consensus, he said.

A group of 30 protesters opposing the U.N.'s policy in Bosnia outside could be heard inside the hall during the event. But the only question about Bosnia came from a student who disrupted the event.

The U.N., Boutros-Ghali said in response, cannot end the fighting in Bosnia until the world's most powerful countries "impose a solution through military action." He also said "a division of labor" in Bosnia, with NATO in charge of air power and the U.N. leading ground troops, had hurt peacekeeping efforts there.

The Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations, which first invited him three years ago, hosted the event.

More than 300 students, faculty and administrators filled the dining hall for the panel discussion, which focused on peacekeeping. Many more students were turned away.

At the discussion, Boutros-Ghali was asked questions by the panel members ranging from his definition of peace to the possibility of redrawing the borders of African countries.

Boutros-Ghali, who is Egyptian, began serving his five-year term as Secretary-General in 1991.

Harvard faculty on the panel included Professor Dudley R. Herschbach, Nobel laureate; Reischauer Professor of Japanese Government Susan J. Pharr, chair of the government department; and Professor of Government Jorge I. Dominguez, acting director of the Center for International Affairs. Director of the Harvard Foundation S. Allen Counter mediated and coordinated the event.

"There are a lot of misconceptions about peacekeeping," Hanson Ssaid. "One of the most important points is that the U.N. can't do anything if members don't let it to."

Student leaders were also on the panel: Merry Jean Chan '97 and Sanjay Shetty '96, co-chairs of the Harvard Foundation student advisory committee; Kristen M. Clarke '97, president of the Black Students Association; and Peter C. Hanson '95, who is writing his senior thesis about the United Nations' success in building democratic institutions in wartorn nations as a final stage of peacekeeping.

Asked by Pharr what steps students should take if they were interested in entering foreign affairs, Boutros-Ghali encouraged students to be diplomatic and to learn lots of foreign languages for "languages are the common denominator for negotiations."

Boutros-Ghali cut short his final remarks to answer three questions from the audience. Shetty said that during a reception with students Boutros-Ghali was very approachable.

"It's important that he was very interested in meeting the students," Shetty said. "I think he felt very much at home in talking with the students, hearing what they had to say.

Student leaders were also on the panel: Merry Jean Chan '97 and Sanjay Shetty '96, co-chairs of the Harvard Foundation student advisory committee; Kristen M. Clarke '97, president of the Black Students Association; and Peter C. Hanson '95, who is writing his senior thesis about the United Nations' success in building democratic institutions in wartorn nations as a final stage of peacekeeping.

Asked by Pharr what steps students should take if they were interested in entering foreign affairs, Boutros-Ghali encouraged students to be diplomatic and to learn lots of foreign languages for "languages are the common denominator for negotiations."

Boutros-Ghali cut short his final remarks to answer three questions from the audience. Shetty said that during a reception with students Boutros-Ghali was very approachable.

"It's important that he was very interested in meeting the students," Shetty said. "I think he felt very much at home in talking with the students, hearing what they had to say.