Transitional U.N. Rule for Somalia Advocated : Peacekeeping: Bush Administration seeks agreement on move that would follow military action.

WASHINGTON — The Bush Administration is moving toward agreement on a plan to place Somalia under transitional rule by the United Nations--similar to what is being done in Cambodia--after proposed military operations are over, officials said Wednesday.

Although the White House has made no decisions, officials said there is a growing belief in the State Department and National Security Council that the step will be necessary to allow U.S. troops to pull out quickly once the area is secure.

Officials also disclosed that the United States is having more difficulty than expected assembling a multinational coalition to undertake the military operation and that the United States has begun seeking cash contributions from Japan, Taiwan and oil-producing countries to help pay for it.

To bolster that effort, President Bush began another round of personal diplomacy Wednesday, calling world leaders to lobby them and later briefing President-elect Bill Clinton on the Somali situation. Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater declined to identify leaders Bush had called, but officials said that the list included prime ministers John Major of Britain, Kiichi Miyazawa of Japan and Brian Mulroney of Canada.

Some officials also suggested that Bush is considering a nationwide television address in the next day or two to give reasons for sending U.S. troops to the famine-stricken nation.

The plan for transitional rule is designed to address what some officials say is the most challenging problem in Somalia--giving the country a means of governing itself once U.S. troops depart.

Officials conceded Wednesday that making such a plan actually will be very difficult, particularly since the warring factions have little experience with democracy. Somalia has no central government, and control has been assumed by warlords of rival clans who are blocking aid supplies. Officials fear that unless some interim authority is established, American troops might have to remain for months or even years.

Although support for a transitional U.N. government for Somalia is growing, the officials said, it may not be completed until the troops are in place.

Meanwhile, Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), chairman of the defense subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, said he opposes Bush’s offer to send American troops to Somalia and branded the operation a costly, nonessential mission.

The criticism marked the first such cautionary note from a congressional leader since Bush made the proposal. Analysts said that it could foreshadow a major debate between Congress and the new Administration on how far America ought to go in serving as a global policeman.

The State Department said Wednesday that several countries have indicated they might be willing to send troops for the Somalia operation but declined to say whether any of them had made a firm commitment. But American officials said privately that Canada, Italy and Morocco have agreed in principle to contribute to the force, and authorities are considering asking Argentina, Brazil and Colombia to join.

There were reports late Wednesday--which could not be confirmed--that France and Britain have declined to send troops because they already are involved in U.N. peacekeeping efforts Yugoslavia. It also was not immediately clear whether Japan, Taiwan and the oil-producing states would make sizable cash contributions. Some Arab countries are bitter because the United Nations has not done more in Muslim-populated Bosnia.

Conditions in Somalia are so primitive that multinational forces will have to provide their own electricity, water and other basics. That increases the cost of the operation.

The developments came as the U.N. Security Council debated a draft resolution authorizing the use of force in Somalia. The council appeared near on a compromise to authorize a U.S.-led international force to move swiftly into Somalia but would subject it to some U.N. controls. Ambassador Chinmaya Gharekhan of India, the council president this month, predicted that formal adoption of the resolution would come today.

Under the latest draft resolution worked out by council members, the American commander would be required to coordinate his military operations with U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who would assign a small liaison staff to the American command and report periodically to the council on the military operations.

The secretary general, under the resolution, also would notify the council when he felt the international force had completed its work of restoring order in Somalia. The council could then decide to withdraw the force in favor U.N. peacekeeping troops.

The draft resolution does not specify that the force commander must be an American. But council members know that the U.S. government, which has offered to send a division of troops, would not allow them to serve in Somalia under any but American command.

The draft resolution is vague about what will happen to the present U.N. peacekeeping operation. The council had authorized a force of 3,500 soldiers. Only 500--all Pakistani troops--are now in Mogadishu. And Boutros-Ghali ordered a halt Wednesday to the movement of 750 Canadian troops who were on their way to Somalia.

A U.S. amphibious strike force carrying about 1,800 Marines arrived off the Somalian coast Wednesday and is awaiting the go-ahead from the United Nations. The group would be the first unit of a U.S. force of 12,000 to 16,000 that would carry out the Somalia operation.

In Cambodia, the United Nations set up a special Supreme National Council that embraces all the major political factions in the country but essentially is overseen by the United Nations and its representatives. Besides dealing with day-to-day governing, the U.N. team in Cambodia is working to build a stable--and hopefully long-lasting--Cambodian-run government.

But officials conceded that the Cambodian model has not yet succeeded and is not without problems.

Murtha’s remarks took the capital by surprise. Most other key lawmakers--including Rep. Les Aspin (D-Wis.) and Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), chairmen of the House and Senate armed services committees--have been relatively silent on the issue.

Times staff writers Art Pine in Washington and Stanley Meisler at the United Nations contributed to this report.