Letter: Boutros-Ghali's vision for the UN

Sir: Your correspondent may be right that Boutros Boutros-Ghali is 'turning the Security Council' against himself ('UN's dream leader heads for disaster', 27 July), by which he probably means the five permanent members who tend to regard the UN as their own property.

One most notable feature of Mr Boutros-Ghali's report on peace- keeping last month - made at the request of the Security Council summit in January - is the emphasis on the role and resources of the UN itself as an entity in its own right, not simply as an instrument of the big powers.

Apart from a UN military force under the direction of the Security Council but with the Secretary- General as Commander in Chief, he emphasised the importance of the General Assembly, in which all member states have a voice

and vote, and of non-governmental agencies, including public opinion.

This concept of the UN - an independent role and a broad public base - is surely more appropriate to today's world than a big power instrument, which was probably the most that was possible in 1945.

As far as I'm concerned, Mr Boutros-Ghali deserves our support, even if he is a bit clumsy in his dealings with ambassadors.

Yours sincerely,

GERRY POCOCK

Beccles, Suffolk

28 July