NEW U.N. HEAD REACHES OUT TO CAPITOL HILL.

Byline: Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire

With a promise of reform and a pitch for reconciliation, newly seated United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan tried Thursday to persuade Congress and the White House to help him remake the world body.

Annan said he shares the American goal of an ``effective, efficient, leaner and relevant'' United Nations. But he said success will be difficult unless the U.S. makes good on its unpaid U.N. debt of $1.3 billion and compromises with other countries in the reform effort.

``The world has changed, and we have to change. We have to adapt, and I have given my commitment to the president that I will pursue reforms,'' said Annan, a career U.N. officer who replaced Boutros Boutros-Ghali this month. ``If we do not change, we may lose our relevance.''

In an effort to improve relations with Republican conservatives in Congress who have been sharply critical of past U.N. administrations, Annan said his staff would set up continuous contacts with aides to Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., who is chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee and the most powerful U.N. critic in Congress.

Annan announced the planned contacts late Thursday after a 75-minute closed-door meeting with Helms and other members of his committee.

Following an earlier private meeting with Annan, Helms said he would introduce legislation setting benchmarks for U.N. performance. The proposal would tie American contributions to the organization's success in meeting the goals.

``If you choose to be an agent of real and deep-seated reform,'' Helms told Annan during the meeting, ``you will find a great deal of support here in Congress, both moral and financial. But the opposite is also true. If reforms are piecemeal, if the status quo persists, then you will have a very difficult time convincing Congress to send more American tax dollars to the United Nations.

``So, Mr. Annan, the ball is in your court.''

An aide to Annan later said the new U.N. chief was uncomfortable with the idea of setting benchmarks or other detailed conditions for U.S. financial aid to the United Nations.

Neither the U.N. official nor a Helms aide would specify just what the senator meant with his suggestion of benchmarks, but both acknowledged that they would generally deal with how quickly and extensively Annan scaled back the size of the U.N. bureaucracy and made other internal changes.

The U.N. aide said that President Clinton has encouraged Annan to establish the unprecedented direct contacts with key members of Congress to sell the United Nations' message to the legislative branch and to create relationships that might help Congress better understand the United Nations' value.

In their meeting with Annan, several senators complained that their constituents felt the United States was in danger of ceding some of its sovereignty to the United Nations, particularly in the area of peacekeeping.

Annan told them the United Nations has no intention of impinging on American sovereignty, but said that in an interdependent world, his organization had roles to play in keeping the peace, according to his aide.

Annan's plainspoken pledge of reform drew a cautiously optimistic response elsewhere on Capitol Hill, where the Republican-led Congress demonized Boutros-Ghali and refused to pay the arrears to an organization depicted as blustery and ineffectual.