U.S. BLOCKS 2ND TERM FOR BOUTROS-GHALI.

Byline: Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire

Acting as it had promised, the United States vetoed the re-election of U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, casting the lone vote Tuesday against his bid for a second five-year term.

The 14-1 vote in the Security Council raised the prospect of a protracted diplomatic fight over the leadership of the world organization.

Boutros-Ghali reacted by insisting he would not accede to U.S. demands that he step down.

``This is just the opening round,'' said U.N. spokeswoman Sylvana Foa. ``He's in it until the Security Council makes a final decision. . . . (He) really appreciates the overwhelming support.''

The United States' apparent isolation, several diplomats and U.N. observers said, was largely the result of the way State Department officials went public with their plan to veto a second term for Boutros-Ghali, without consulting other Security Council members.

``This lopsided vote is not so much a vote opposed to the U.S. judgment on Boutros-Ghali for a second term, as it is an expression of the rudeness in the way the U.S. guillotined him,'' said Jeffrey Laurenti, director of policy for the United States U.N. Association, an independent organization of 30,000 members founded by Eleanor and Franklin D. Roosevelt more than 50 years ago to drum up support for the world organization.

``The fact is that Boutros-Ghali is not a popular man at the United Nations,'' Laurenti said. ``But the vote is a reaction against what is seen as an American pretense to hegemony and imperial power, the sense that the U.S. is telling the world: `Either play our way or get lost.' ''

On Tuesday, however, State Department officials insisted they would not back down. They seized upon Boutros-Ghali's defiance to assert that it showed why the United States wants him out.

``It's another instance of him putting his own personal interest over that of the United Nations,'' said a high-ranking State Department official who asked to remain unidentified. ``No one can argue that this kind of discussion is good for the U.N. Everyone knows it's not.''

Last year, the official said, the United States tried to resolve its differences with Boutros-Ghali by proposing, in a private meeting with Secretary of State Warren Christopher, that he serve one more year as secretary-general.

``He basically said yes, and then he changed his mind and rejected it,'' the State Department official said.