Struggles Within the U.N.

New leadership now appears assured for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and that in turn holds the promise of getting the specialized agency back to the important work for which it was created. It is by no means clear, however, whether the reforms will be adequate to justify a return to membership by the United States, which left at the end of 1984, and Britain, which left the following year.

The most troubling aspect of the successful effort to install new leadership was how difficult the task proved to be. Amadou Mahtar M’Bow, 65, the director general since 1974, had agreed last year to step aside--a decision widely welcomed because his autocratic and disorganized leadership had been a major factor in creating the agency’s problems. But M’Bow changed his mind and became a candidate, forcing a prolonged election struggle in the executive committee. He withdrew only after four ballots showed that he could not win. In that process, old divisions were re-created, and the African nations found it necessary to vote to support him as a bloc--the very political-bloc polarization that has created so many problems for the United Nations and its specialized agencies.

Federico Mayor Zaragoza--a biochemist, a former minister of education in Spain and a former deputy director general of UNESCO--has been nominated by the executive committee. He must be confirmed by the general conference next month. He appears to be a good choice, with the potential for bringing order and better management to the organization. But no director general alone can correct some of the destructive problems of recent years. The membership itself must be willing to forgo political diversions and to concentrate on priorities of the agency’s mandate. That is not yet assured.

Another agency of the United Nations, the Food and Agriculture Organization, faces a similar struggle next month when delegates consider reappointing Edouard Saouma, a Lebanese, as its director general. His autocratic style and manipulation of Third World and communist-bloc votes to support his agenda have alienated major members in the Western world. He is being challenged by an African and a Latin American.