U.N. Squabble Threatens to Slow Relief to Somalia

Personal and bureaucratic wrangling threatened to slow U.N. relief to Somalia on Tuesday as the United States and other governments tried to persuade Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali to refuse the resignation of the diplomat heading the sorely needed operation.

Embarrassed officials at U.N. headquarters in New York would not comment on the imbroglio except to confirm that Mohammed Sahnoun, the experienced Algerian diplomat who has led U.N. peacekeeping forces in Somalia since the end of April, has sent his resignation to the secretary general.

Sahnoun resigned after reportedly receiving a written reprimand from Boutros-Ghali for criticizing the United Nations in public, failing to keep in close contact with his supervisors in New York and traveling without authorization to the Seychelles Islands for a conference.

But U.S., British and French diplomats reacted with dismay at the news. In their view, the removal of the competent Sahnoun would weaken an operation already crippled by marauding gangs of warlords who pirate food before it can reach the millions of starving in Somalia.

U.S. Ambassador Edward J. Perkins, diplomatic sources said, told Boutros-Ghali that the United States has “full confidence” in Sahnoun. This was echoed by the British and French ambassadors.

But Boutros-Ghali, who has a reputation for stubbornness in the face of pressure, told the ambassadors that he would ignore the resignation if Sahnoun withdrew it in 24 hours. Because such a move was unlikely, the ambassadors were hoping that Boutros-Ghali would change his mind and simply refuse to accept the letter.

The U.N. office in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, issued a statement insisting that Sahnoun had resigned because of his frustration over obstacles placed in the way of relief by Somali warlords. But this reason was not given much credit by diplomatic sources in New York. Instead, they guessed that Sahnoun had been angered by Boutros-Ghali’s reprimands.