15,000 Peacekeepers Needed in Haiti, Boutros-Ghali Says : Caribbean: The U.N. leader urges that the job be given to the United States and its allies. He sidesteps issue of invasion.

U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali said Friday that a peacekeeping force of more than 15,000 troops will be needed to restore order in Haiti and recommended that the job be given to the United States and its allies.

In a report to the Security Council, Boutros-Ghali said the world body is not up to the task of putting together such a large force and proposed that the council authorize a group of countries to undertake the task. He did not explicitly appoint the United States to lead the mission, but diplomats at the United Nations said that was clearly his implication.

Boutros-Ghali sidestepped the issue of whether the force would invade Haiti or wait for the leaders of the military regime to leave peaceably. But his proposal could make it easier for the Clinton Administration to invade Haiti, because it would give the United States a broad mandate for action from the Security Council.

“This is basically the Desert Storm model,” a Clinton Administration official said, referring to the U.N. approval of U.S. leadership in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. “The U.N. says go ahead and solve the problem and leaves it to us to do it.”

The Administration did not offer any official response to Boutros-Ghali’s recommendation, circulated privately at the United Nations and in Washington on Friday in advance of its public release today.

The secretary general’s proposal that the United States and other countries run the peacekeeping operation solves at least two diplomatic problems:

* It lets U.S. troops make up more than 30% of the peacekeeping force; in a U.N.-led operation, a single country is normally limited to no more than 30%. But that guideline would have limited U.S. participation to 4,500 troops and required the United Nations to recruit 10,500 troops from other countries--a task Boutros-Ghali said is impossible.

* It lets the United States exercise direct command of the force, without going through the United Nations’ sometimes balky chain of command--a provision the Administration had requested. At the same time, Boutros-Ghali took pains to warn the United States--and any other country that cares to join--that the mission will not be easy. He said the force would need to operate in “a disturbed and violent environment . . . for a period of unforeseeable duration.”

“His message is: Don’t think you can just get in, knock (Lt. Gen. Raoul) Cedras out of power and then turn it over to the U.N.,” an Administration official said. “You’ve got to be around until we’ve got democracy on track.”

In his 13-page report, Boutros-Ghali said: “The situation in Haiti has deteriorated to an intolerable extent. The senior leadership of the (Haitian armed forces) continues to defy the will of the international community and to inflict murder, rape and torture on the unfortunate people of Haiti.”

He said a large peacekeeping force is needed “after the departure of the senior Haitian military leadership and before the restoration in full of the legitimate government’s authority.”

He said the operation would require a total of 15,610 personnel: 5,000 combat troops, including infantry, helicopters and special operations units; 6,500 support troops, including military police, intelligence and communications units; 3,500 more combat troops in offshore reserve; 550 civilian police, and 60 military trainers to retrain Haiti’s army and police forces.

Once the peacekeeping force restores order, he said, the main body of troops could gradually withdraw, leaving the reserve troops and trainers behind.

U.S. officials said this week that 15 countries have offered to take part in a peacekeeping force. But Secretary of State Warren Christopher acknowledged Friday that the offers were made under the assumption that Haiti’s military leaders would step down peaceably. They were not necessarily promises to join in a U.S. invasion, Christopher said.