Kurt Reply

Waldheim bows out--for now

As an ordeal by secret ballot, the exercise had become as exhausting as the U.S. presidential primary system. Sixteen times in the course of five weeks, the 15 members of the United Nations Security Council had cast their votes for U.N. Secretary-General. Just as many times, the necessary nine countries had voted to re-elect the urbane Austrian incumbent, Kurt Waldheim, 62, who has held the job for two five-year terms. And on each occasion, the People's Republic of China had blocked a Waldheim victory by exercising to veto power. Finally Waldheim appeared to give in. In a letter last week to the December Security Council President Olara Otunnu of Uganda, the Secretary-General wrote that "in order to facilitate he task of the council," he was withdrawing his name from the next round of balloting, which could take place next week. The next move seemed to depend on Waldheim's challenger on each of the previous ballots, Tanzanian Foreign Minister Salim Ahmed Salim, 39. But the imbroglio may continue right up to and perhaps beyond the Dec. 31 expiration of Waldheim's current term.

Waldheim wanted to become the first Secretary-General to hold the job for three consecutive terms. His re-election has been opposed by China and other developing countries that want a Third World representative to hold the job. The possibility of Salim's election is opposed by the U.S., which has vetoed him five times when he too attained the nine votes necessary for the job. (Council members could, and did, vote for both candidates.) The U.S. position, put by Ambassador to the U.N. Jeane Kirkpatrick, is that any Secretary-General "who would further politicize [the organization] would mean the kiss of death." The U.S. would vote against Salim again if the council decides to hold another round of balloting with him as the sole candidate.

If the Security Council remains stymied, it was intimated that Waldheim would assent to an extension of his term, possibly for a year or two, as a kind of compromise. Technically, there is little time left on the U.N. calendar for that or any other sort of arrangement, since the General Assembly, which must ratify the choice, is scheduled to adjourn on Dec. 15. But delegates can still decide to cut into their Christmas holidays and extend the session. In that event, it appears likely that one of the body's most important decisions in years will be made in typical U.N. fashion: at the last minute, and through byzantine cloakroom negotiating.

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