TANTRUMS AND CHAMPAGNE

By Michael S. Serrill

The formal vote was hours away, but by lunchtime the champagne corks were popping on the 37th floor of the United Nations Secretariat in New York City. The preceding weeks had been filled with intense diplomatic scuffling, terminating in one final big-power temper tantrum. But by 1 o'clock Friday afternoon, it was certain that Kofi Annan of Ghana was to be the seventh Secretary-General of the U.N., succeeding the reluctantly retiring Boutros Boutros-Ghali on Jan. 1. The jubilation in the U.N. building was heartfelt: Annan was perhaps the most popular candidate among those who worked for the organization. But will an insider bring the reform that the U.S. faced down Boutros-Ghali to get? Washington thinks so. "We're delighted," says a State Department official.

The first black African to hold the highest U.N. post was chosen only after a round of diplomatic fisticuffs between two increasingly bitter adversaries, France and the U.S. Bruised by the U.S. veto of Boutros-Ghali, its preferred choice, France endorsed three other candidates ahead of Annan. U.S. Secretary of State-designate Madeleine Albright negotiated throughout the week with the French U.N. ambassador. By Thursday, Annan had 14 of the 15 Security Council votes, with only France dissenting, and Paris finally gave way when all three African nations on the council, including Boutros-Ghali's Egypt, united behind the Ghanaian. Annan must now deal with the U.N.'s huge budget deficit and its controversial peacekeeping role. The new boss is experienced at both.

An expert on U.N. finances, since 1993 Annan has been Under Secretary-General for Peacekeeping. The job put him in charge of 17 military operations and as many as 80,000 multinational troops in locales like Bosnia, Somalia and the Middle East. "He managed to be an honest broker among the U.S. and the other major powers involved in Bosnia, even when they disagreed," says a U.S. official. As chief peacekeeper, Annan created a professional military-planning group credited with introducing cost efficiency to the U.N.'s far-flung troop deployments.

For his part, Annan says his goal is "to put the U.N. on a sound financial basis." That may lead to some friction with his sponsor, America, which owes the U.N. $1.5 billion. Says Sir Brian Urquhart, former U.N. Under Secretary-General: "Somebody has to go to Congress and get them to pay up. He has to restore the U.N.'s stature in the public mind." Annan agrees with this assessment, saying, "Our problem is, we don't tell our story. And the public doesn't know. That is something we need to work on."

--By Michael S. Serrill. Reported by Marguerite Michaels/New York and Lewis M. Simons/Washington

With reporting by MARGUERITE MICHAELS/NEW YORK AND LEWIS M. SIMONS/WASHINGTON