U.N. Army to Enforce Peace Proposed by Secretary General : Military: Member countries would be asked to supply troops to help guarantee international security.

Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali offered the Security Council Thursday a blueprint for a United Nations that calls on member countries to make armed forces available on an ad hoc and permanent basis.

In his report, Boutros-Ghali argued that a military option “is essential” to the credibility of the United Nations as a guarantor of international security. He proposed that separate “peace enforcement units” be created to deal with potentially high-risk situations.

At present, the units volunteered by member states for U.N. peacekeeping missions are characterized by such tight restraints against use of arms that the troops generally have been discounted as a credible military force.

The blueprint is the result of a Jan. 31 meeting of world leaders, including President Bush, at the Security Council. They asked Boutros-Ghali to report on “ways of strengthening and making more efficient” the council’s capacity for preventive diplomacy, peacemaking and peacekeeping.

The secretary general stressed that “the ready availability of armed forces on call could serve, in itself, as a means of deterring breaches of the peace, since a potential aggressor would know that the council had at its disposal a means of response.”

Boutros-Ghali noted that while the forces may never be sufficiently large or sophisticated enough to face a threat from a major army, “they would be useful . . . in meeting any threat posed by a military force of a lesser order.”

The idea of a standing force was suggested by French President Francois Mitterrand, who volunteered to have 1,000 soldiers available at all times and to double this number within 48 hours. It is unclear whether other world leaders, including Bush, share his enthusiasm.

Response to the report could serve as a test of whether the 15 council nations and other U.N. members share Boutros-Ghali’s vision of the organization in the post-Cold War era.

The troops’ function would be to respond to “outright aggression, imminent or actual.” While the secretary general recognized that these forces are not likely to be available “for some time,” he recommended they be made available. He added that they would be more heavily armed than peacekeeping forces and would need extensive training within their national forces.

Boutros-Ghali stressed preventive diplomacy as well as what he called post-conflict peace-building, aimed at strengthening peaceful conditions.

Among his suggestions for preventive diplomacy, he called for an enhanced role for regional organizations, more fact-finding, an enhanced U.N. presence--including, in exceptional circumstances, council meetings away from New York headquarters to gather information and exercise authority.

He also recommended “preventive deployment” of U.N. peacekeepers in cases of national crisis or inter-state disputes. This would be done with the consent of the governments or all of the parties, but the council also would be able to dispatch forces at the request of a single government that feared aggression by a neighbor.

Another idea is to use demilitarized zones before rather than after conflicts. They would offer a means of separating potential belligerents or, at the request of one party, a way of removing a pretext for attack.

The report called for greater reliance on the International Court of Justice and proposed that all nations join by the year 2000.

The secretary general noted that the United Nations will not be able to play an enhanced role if it lacks the financial resources. At present, he said, arrears for peacekeeping operations exceed $800 million. He recommended that, as has been proposed by some in the United States, contributions be budgeted by defense ministries rather than foreign ministries.

“A chasm has developed between the tasks entrusted to this organization and the financial means provided to it,” the report said. “The truth of the matter is that our vision cannot really extend to the prospect opening before us as long as our financing remains myopic.”

Among some new financial solutions, it proposed a levy on international air travel, “which is dependent on international peace,” general tax exemption for contributions to the United Nations and a levy on arms sales.

Boutros-Ghali noted that since the creation of the United Nations in 1945, more than 100 major conflicts around the world have left some 20 million dead. He blamed this in part on the ideological struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union and the use of 279 vetoes in the council. “Never again must the Security Council lose the collegiality that is essential to its proper functioning,” he said.