ADMINISTRATION WILL OPPOSE SECOND TERM FOR U.N. LEADER.

Byline: Steven Erlanger The New York Times

The Clinton administration has decided not to support Boutros Boutros-Ghali for a second term as U.N. secretary-general and has informed him that Washington will use its veto, if necessary, to prevent his re-election, senior U.S. officials said Wednesday.

The United States, which considers Boutros-Ghali an obstacle to reform at the international organization, has begun the process of informing other countries, including other Security Council members, the officials said, describing the decision as ``irrevocable.''

Refusing to bow to the Clinton administration and step down quietly at the end of the year, Boutros-Ghali said in an interview from Bonn on Wednesday night that he would seek another five-year term.

``I have the support of the greater number of members of the international community, and on the basis of this I will seek a second mandate,'' he said in the interview. ``I hope that the American administration will change its mind.''

Later Wednesday night his spokesman made a formal announcement of the secretary-general's intention to seek a second term.

The Clinton administration, which has been under pressure from the Republicans to do something about Boutros-Ghali, had hoped to avoid a confrontation with countries that support Boutros-Ghali, by negotiating a face-saving, yearlong extension of his term, through November 1997.

But Boutros-Ghali rejected that idea Tuesday and said he would seek re-election despite U.S. opposition.

The Americans have no particular candidate in mind, the officials said, but want a successor who is committed to reforming the bloated bureaucracy of the United Nations while ``generating confidence'' in the efficiency and usefulness of the organization in a post-Soviet world.

Unless the United Nations is reformed from within, the officials said, the United States would have a difficult time generating contributions and support from the American people and Congress.

``The United Nations will not succeed and may not even survive unless there is very substantial and credible reform,'' a senior official said. ``Boutros-Ghali is a distinguished man but an old-fashioned diplomat, and he's not the right man for the times.''

Boutros-Ghali ``has friends around the world and some will suggest a second term,'' another official said. ``But the United States has a veto and we're prepared to use it if necessary. Our intention is to see a new secretary-general by the end of the year.''

Clinton made the decision March 25 to oppose Boutros-Ghali, the officials said, seeking to rebut criticism from congressional Republicans that the administration has been indecisive on whether to support the secretary-general for a second term.

The likely Republican presidential candidate, Bob Dole, regularly criticizes Boutros-Ghali in campaign speeches as a symbol of what Dole considers a weakening of U.S. power at the United Nations.

The officials said that the period since March 25 has not been one of indecision but instead a long effort, at first through intermediaries and then through Secretary of State Warren Christopher, to negotiate ``a dignified and voluntary retirement'' with Boutros-Ghali, a senior official said.

Christopher, in numerous telephone calls with Boutros-Ghali and a meeting in New York on May 13, tried to convince him to agree to a one-year extension of his term, which ends with the conclusion of this year's General Assembly session in late autumn.