180 Leaders Land in N.Y. to Fete U.N. : Celebration: Heads of state from around globe mark world organization’s 50th anniversary. Summit participants hope to produce a new declaration of international principles.

UNITED NATIONS —  More than 180 kings, princes, presidents, prime ministers and other national leaders, representing virtually every country on the globe, converged on New York on Saturday for the 50th anniversary celebrations of the United Nations.

The leaders, from the president of China (population 1.2 billion) to the co-regents of San Marino (population 20,000), will assemble in one place this morning for a series of speeches at the U.N. General Assembly, beginning with one by President Clinton, that will last three days.

About 65 of them, along with more than 500 other guests, gathered Saturday night for a dinner hosted by New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani in the 12-story-high atrium of the International Trade Center.

“New York is a place of endless talk,” U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali told the dinner guests. “So is the United Nations. We argue. We debate. We love the dialogue about ourselves and the world. But we are not just talkers. We are also doers. This common interest also binds us together.”

U.N. leaders hope the 50th anniversary summit will produce a declaration of international principles along the lines of the preamble of the original U.N. Charter.

That document, written largely by American poet Archibald MacLeish, pledged members “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war” and “to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights.”

U.N. officials are seeking unanimous agreement for the new declaration, a taller order now than half a century ago because U.N. membership has grown from 50 countries to 185.

Officials are not quite sure how to bring about a meeting of the minds between, for example, Vaclav Havel, the playwright and democratic philosopher who is president of the Czech Republic, and President Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, who sits atop one of the most tyrannical and repressive regimes in Africa.

A drafting committee, which had already met 50 times, met yet again Saturday to try to fashion a declaration that would please everyone.

So packed is the U.N. summit conference with political celebrities that the surest way for a leader to attract attention in recent days was to choose not to come.

Among the no-shows are President Eduard A. Shevardnadze of Georgia, who says he fears a coup if he leaves the country; President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, a recent target of terrorist attacks; German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who said his schedule was too busy, and Presidents Saddam Hussein of Iraq and Moammar Kadafi of Libya, whose countries are the targets of U.N. economic sanctions.

But more than 150 of the 185 U.N. members have sent their heads of state or government, including such headline names as Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin and Cuban President Fidel Castro. The other countries are represented by deputy prime ministers, foreign ministers and other lesser lights.

Of all the independent countries in the world, only Switzerland has maintained so isolationist a stance that it has refused to join the United Nations. And the General Assembly has temporarily excluded the rump Yugoslavia--made up of the Serbian and Montenegrin republics--from the right to participate in its debates.

Most prominent of the would-be national leaders in New York for the U.N. extravaganza was Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat, who held his own dinner Saturday at the Vista Hotel, almost directly across the street from the one hosted by Giuliani.

Arafat, reiterating his commitment to the Middle East peace process, raised $350,000 from his predominantly Arab audience.

“Our target is to find a place on the map in the Middle East for our people,” he said.

Many of the leaders who arrived Saturday were greeted by a downpour that flooded portions of some highways, making travel difficult. At one point, seven motorcades were assembled at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Castro was driven directly to his nation’s U.N. mission in mid-town Manhattan, where about 30 protesters tried to taunt him with chants of “assassin” and “freedom for Cuba.”

Castro probably never heard their cries because the group was kept a block away from the heavily guarded mission.

Earlier, police estimated that about 2,000 Castro supporters marched through heavy rain to protest the U.S. embargo against Cuba.

Castro, not invited to Giuliani’s welcoming dinner, dined instead with U.S. business people.

He also met with Cuban scholars and planned a trip to Harlem today to speak at the Abyssinian Baptist Church.

Today’s program at the United Nations begins with the shooting of a massive group picture. After that, the leaders will file into the General Assembly hall for a marathon round of speeches.

Clinton, representing the host country, will speak first. The other leaders will follow in order determined by lot.

The leaders, including Clinton, have been allotted no more than five minutes each--which, for many, is barely enough time to warm up. A green light on the podium will turn to amber when there is less than 30 seconds left and to red when the five minutes are over.

Then it will be up to Diogo Freitas do Amaral, the Portuguese professor and politician who is president of the General Assembly this year, to shoo the speaker off the stage.

“Stay tuned to see what the president of the General Assembly will do,” U.N. spokesman Joe Sills told reporters. “Will he have to send the speaker a note? Will he bang his gavel? Stay tuned.”

Most U.N. officials and diplomats expect the speeches to go on longer than advertised, but not as long as the speakers are accustomed to. Castro, for example, a master orator, would surprise everyone if he tried to speak for his usual hour or two or even more.

President Franjo Tudjman of Croatia has tried to skirt the five-minute limitation by preparing a lengthy speech that his staff has already distributed to news correspondents. A note explains that Tudjman will deliver “a shorter, five-minute version” to the summit.

In the days leading up to the summit, Boutros-Ghali has been receiving a revolving-door procession of presidents and prime ministers at 20-minute intervals in his 38th-floor offices at U.N. headquarters.

During the past two days, according to his spokesmen, the secretary general has discussed Rwandan refugees with President Mobutu of Zaire, the Iraqi situation with Sheik Jabbar al Ahmed al Sabah of Kuwait, the Sudanese civil war with President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, the Armenian conflict with President Heydar A. Aliyev of Azerbaijan, the Bosnian crisis with Prime Minister Ingvar Carlsson of Sweden, reform of the U.N. Security Council with Prime Minister Jozef Oleksy of Poland, the problems of small-island states with President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom of the Maldives, the Tamil Tigers rebellion with President Chandrika Kumaratunga of Sri Lanka and the effects of drought with President Ketumile Masire of Botswana.

Summit conferences also offer national leaders a chance to meet with each other. Clinton will confer with Yeltsin in Hyde Park, north of New York City, on Monday and with Chinese President Jiang Zemin at the New York Public Library on Tuesday.

For those leaders who want to meet in less elegant surroundings, the United Nations has put up a series of temporary cubicles in the wide corridor at the entrance that visitors use when they line up for a tour of the buildings. Each cubicle is outfitted with eight heavy wooden armchairs perched on an Oriental rug.

The United Nations, often berated for its failures in the former Yugoslav federation during the past few years, hailed one of its successes there on the eve of the summit when officials raised the flag of Macedonia on U.N. grounds.

The original flag of Macedonia, one of the republics of the former Yugoslavia that recently declared its independence, had not been flown because Greece objected that it represented a Macedonian claim to what is really Greek territory.

But under a recent agreement worked out by former U.S. Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance acting on behalf of the United Nations, the Macedonians changed their flag, and the Greeks withdrew their objection to its use.

Times staff writer John J. Goldman and special correspondent Helaine Olen contributed to this story.

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The Menu

More than 60 world leaders attended a dinner hosted by New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani at the International Trade Center in honor of the 50th anniversary of the United Nations. The meal included these dishes:

Hors d’oeuvres

Wild mushroom risotto cakes

Basil crepe roulades

Savory four-cheese polenta diamonds

Sweet-potato pancakes with guacamole and salsa

Vegetarian pot stickers

Skewered rosemary chicken and artichoke hearts

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Appetizer

Grilled vegetable timbale on a bed of mesclun lettuces, garnished with a New York State goat cheese crouton and dressed with a balsamic thyme vinaigrette

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Main course

Roast chicken breast with shiitake and leek stuffing

Herb and dijon encrusted rack of lamb with fresh rosemary glace

Wild rice and wheat berry pilaf with mixed dried fruit, scallions and pecans

Green bean bundles garnished with mixed vegetable confetti

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Dessert

Multilayer ice cream bombe with Aztec harvest, chocolate and vanilla ice cream, served with warm chocolate sauce