MonitoRadio Daily Program; [1996-12-13]

President Clinton fills in some more seats at the second term cabinet table. I'm David Brown and this is Monitor Radio. Monitor Radio is the World Wide Broadcast Edition of the Christian Science Monitor on PRI, Public Radio International. The White House takes the wraps off a new Commerce Secretary and UN Ambassador will have the latest from Washington. Also the politics of appointing Attorney Generals plus black farmers label the Agriculture Department the last plantation. We cannot get loans. Our loans are deliberately delayed in processing the checks are held up. It's just unbelievable. We'll have those stories and more coming up on Monitor Radio. First this news. I'm Judy Ewell at the Monitor Radio news desk. President Clinton has reportedly chosen nominees to head of his economic team during his second term in office. The president is expected to announce his

appointments at an afternoon news conference. A White House official says Mr. Clinton has chosen Democratic activist Bill Daly to be Commerce Secretary and administration economic aid Jean Spurling has reportedly been named to chair the National Economic Council. U .P .I. Estimate Resortist in Washington says a veteran congressman may get a new job at the United Nations. New Mexico Democratic congressman Bill Richardson may replace Madeline Albright as ambassador to the United Nations. Richardson's been doing a lot of globetrotting lately. Earlier this week he negotiated the release of three hostages in Sudan. Before that he helped free an American man held in North Korea who'd been accused of spying for the United States. The president is also expected to say this afternoon that Attorney General Janet Reno will stay on as the nation's top law enforcement official. The Israeli cabinet has approved tax breaks and government grants for Jewish settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The move comes two days after Palestinian gunmen killed a Jewish settler and her son in the West Bank. Meantime militant Islamic groups are threatening to launch new attacks on Israelis and Islamic leaders meeting in

Indonesia today called for international pressure to force Israel to implement the final stages of Palestinian self -rule. The Tanzanian military is forcing Rwandan refugees back towards Rwanda. Government soldiers blocked access to some of the refugee camps that housed hundreds of thousands of refugees for more than two years. Jennifer Glass reports from the Banako refugee camp in Angera, Tanzania. Against a brilliant green backdrop of fields they have illegally cultivated for two years, tens of thousands of refugees shrugged towards Rwanda. It is clear that many do not want to go back. But as they try to return to the refugee camp that have been home since 1994, Tanzanian military personnel turns them away keeping them moving on the main road to the Rwandan border. The column of refugees stretches for miles. For two days they have parried all they can on bicycles. They're back their heads. First trying to move deep into the Tanzanian countryside. Friday, Tanzanian police

changed the human tide, turning the refugees back towards Rwanda. Many fear that there they will face punishment or retribution for the genocide in Rwanda two years ago. For the Christian Science Monitor, I'm Jennifer Glass and Angera, Tanzania. The United Nations Security Council is meeting in New York for a fourth day of unofficial balloting to try to choose a new secretary general. The process has been deadlocked over France's refusal to support the most viable candidate Kofi Anan of Ghana. In London, the Financial Times index lost 18 points to close at 39 .72, just before the hour the Dow Jones industrial average was up 12 points. This is Public Radio International. Serbia's president, Slobodan Milosevic, is responding to international criticism that he stole opposition victories in last month's local elections. The Serbian leader insisted the elections were fair, in a letter to U .S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher that was published today by Serbia's official news agency. Mr. Milosevic also invited the organization for security and cooperation in Europe to review the vote. Tens of thousands

of protesters have demonstrated in the capital, Belgrade, since Serbian courts throughout opposition victories and 33 districts. European Union finance ministers agreed on a broad plan for budget priorities at their meeting in Dublin today. Now it's up to heads of state to finalize the deal. Connor Sweeney reports from Dublin. Germany's finance minister Theo Wagle continued to insist on tough rules for punishing countries. He signed up for the single currency but failed to control borrowings. The European Commission along with France and other members pressed the Germans to compromise on the high monetary standards they were setting. The ministers did agree there should be sizable sanctions for countries who allow government borrowing to exceed 3 % of national output but there was big disagreement about the circumstances which could excuse a breach of this borrowing limit. The German reluctance to compromise last night is likely to be seen by the financial markets as a major blow to the European monetary union project. The official two -day European summit opens in Dublin later today. The formal agenda will focus on progress of economic and monetary union, the EU's intergovernmental conference and the fight against unemployment, drugs, and organized crime. For the

Christian science monitor, I'm Connor Sweeney in Dublin. A judging Columbia has sentenced a leader of the Cali drug cartel to 13 years in prison. Juan Carlos Ramirez was also fine $2 million. Ramirez worked out a play bargain after he turned himself into authorities in March. The US is trying to extradite Ramirez and three other convicted leaders of the Cali drug cartel for trial in America. So far, Columbia has refused to turn them over. From Monitor Radio News, I'm Judy Ewell on PRI. This is Monitor Radio. I'm David Brown. In Washington, the

cabinet vacancies are going fast. President Clinton has made several selections to fill up some empty seats in his second administration. We're joined now by our chief political correspondent Jim Kane. Jim, last week, President Clinton was focusing on defense and foreign policy in his news conference today. It appeared he wanted to zero in on his economic team. That's right. The economic team was unveiled today, David, and it will be led as it was through the second half of the first term with Secretary of the Treasury, Robert Rubin, who will stay on the job, along with his deputy Larry Summers and the director of the Office of Management and Budget Franklin Reigns. A new player on the team is Bill Daley, the Chicago lawyer and Democratic activist who will take over as Secretary of Commerce, subject to the approval of the Senate. And Charlene Barchefsky will be the U .S. Trade Representative, Gene Spurling, promoted to the director or rather the chairman of the National Economic Council. Jim, I understand that Bill Daley almost stole the show at the announcement today, is that right? He did. He threw a scare into everyone at the old executive office building

where the nomination he collapsed. Very suddenly, scared everyone, the president came over, helped Daley to his feet. Daley was holding his head. The president said, where's my doctor and helped to lead Daley off stage. But just a few minutes later, Daley came back on, apparently okay. Apparently, David, he just fainted. Jim, another appointment today. Congressman Bill Richardson, named it the post of UN ambassador. It's a post president. Clinton suggested he was uniquely suited for. All Americans have watched admiringly, as Bill Richardson has undertaken the toughest and most delicate diplomatic efforts around the world, from North Korea to Iraq. Just this week, Congressman Richardson was huddled in a rebel chieftain's hut in Sudan, eating barbecued goat and negotiating the freedom of three hostages. Today, I am proud to nominate him to be our next ambassador to the United Nations, to serve in my cabinet and as a principal on our foreign policy team. Jim, a surprise, Richardson's appointment? No real surprise, David. It was

expected that he would get some choice assignment in the second Clinton administration. And this was the one that was at the top of the list. He has shown his ability to negotiate under under pressure. And so many instances bringing US citizens out of hostage and captive situations. And so he's being rewarded with the top spot at the UN. Any other names mentioned in terms of who's staying in the second term? Well, yes. The news everyone was waiting for and has been waiting for since the day President Clinton was reelected is that Attorney General Janet Reno has been asked to stay on. The president met with her for about 30 minutes last night and told the reporters today that she has been asked to stay on. As has a health and human services secretary Donna Shaleila and the head of the EPA Carol Browner. Jimless linger on Reno's reappointment if we can call it that for just a moment. It seemed as if President Clinton waited a long time to make a move with respect to her future. In fact, there were some reports

that Mr. Clinton wasn't terribly eager to reappoint her. Any truth to that? Well, we'll never really know unless the president refers to it himself, but there were reports that many in the White House were angry at her for having appointed so many special prosecutors or independent councils as they're known. The president and some of his staff have said that he didn't talk to her specifically because of some of those decisions that we're still lingering. But the bottom line is that she's on board once again. Our chief political correspondent Jim Kane. Thanks, Jim. Thank you, David. The apparent White House hand ringing over Janet Reno's reappointment raises some interesting questions. What it's sometimes referred to by White House insiders as her independent style has been manifest in the attorney general's willingness to investigate the president himself through the appointment of independent councils and special justice department probes. But should the highest law enforcement official in the land be required to be a team player politically speaking? Just how independent should the job of attorney

general be? Joseph DeGeneva is a former federal prosecutor and independent council. He is today an attorney practicing in Washington. Mr. DeGeneva should an attorney general be appointed by a president? Oh, absolutely. I don't think there's any question that the attorney general is a constitutional officer. And since the president is the head of the executive branch and is in effect that the chief law enforcement officer of the United States, he and he alone should appoint the attorney general subject to the confirmation of the Senate. At the same time, though, even though obviously there are institutional reasons why a president appoints an attorney general, you think about the fact that just recently, Janet Reno was asked by some Republicans to launch an investigation into some allegations over campaign fundraising and proprieties on the part of the Clinton camp. And she refused. She said there wasn't enough evidence to warrant such a probe. But she made that decision at a time when it appeared her job was in jeopardy. Now, obviously, no reason to conclude she made that decision for political reasons. But because she's an appointee, doesn't it in some way compromise the integrity of her post? Not really.

That's her job. Her job is to make decisions like that. And that's why when you make an appointment of an attorney general, you do not want to appoint a lightweight. But the point is you want an attorney general who is honest, has integrity and has independence. And Miss Reno meets all of those criteria, which is why it's probably a very good idea to keep her around, even though it might be very uncomfortable for some people in the White House when she does independent things like ask for the appointment of special prosecutors. Should an attorney general be asked to be part of a presidential team? I mean, we've heard a lot of talk about the need for her to be a team player. Does that not undercut the idea that the head of the Justice Department will enforce all laws equally, not just those that the president's interested in? Well, I'm not quite sure what the people at the White House and the Clinton administration mean by a team player. If they mean that she's going to listen carefully on policy questions, dealing with how you enforce the civil rights laws and whether or not you enforce the in -I trust laws a certain way, she should be listening to the White House. But if it's about specific cases that they want to interfere with, she shouldn't listen to one thing they have to say. Mr. DeGeneres, you were a U .S. attorney during the Reagan years. You worked in the Justice Department

during the Ford administration for Attorney General Levy. I mean, some people hearing that are going to expect rightly or wrongly that, well, as a Republican, you're going to take a conservative line on this and perhaps a political line. Again, so much as perception, is that a healthy burden for any law enforcement official to bear? Well, you know, it's really a burden. It has to be born because it's the nature of the office that most presidents, for example, are going to pick an attorney general who is from their party. They're not going to pick somebody from the other party. That's the history of the office. It's just because people are from the same party doesn't mean they're dishonest. And in fact, our system relies on the fact that people participate in the two -party system because it is an honest, worthwhile endeavor. It doesn't mean that everybody who is a very active partisan should get law enforcement positions. And in fact, they shouldn't. I don't mean to suggest that it's a question of honesty, but perhaps a question of partiality that is to say, if one is a partisan and as we all have our biases, we're all human and we all have our preferences. Nonetheless, if it is known that a person is a

partisan in a position of law enforcement, doesn't that in some way shape the way that people believe that the law will be enforced? Yes, in fact, it wouldn't, naturally. And if someone is a partisan, they shouldn't be in law enforcement. So as you see it, it's more the person, not the position and the way that appointments may. Absolutely. And in fact, that's why you must pick a person of integrity, honesty, and independence. And generally speaking, someone who is highly partisan or has played a highly partisan role in a campaign cannot play the role of attorney general. They can very easily, though, play the role of commerce secretary or agriculture secretary, because those are very, very blatantly political positions, which involve policy, which has a very heavy political part of its evolution. That's not the case with law enforcement. That's why the attorney general is a different subject. Joseph DeGeneva is a former federal prosecutor and independent council. Today he is an attorney practicing in Washington. Mr. DeGeneva, thank you very much. My pleasure. Thank you. In Washington today, a U .S. District Court judge is hearing a lawsuit filed by six black and Hispanic farmers.

They claim the U .S. Department of Agriculture discriminated against them in farm loan programs. Minority farmers have been complaining about such discrimination for more than a decade and top U .S. DA officials admit it did sometimes happen. Yesterday, Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman announced the formation of a civil rights action team to investigate the farmer's beefs. But minority farmers say the government's action is too little, too late. And as monitor radio's Monica Brady discovered, they've taken their protest to the streets. A group of about 40 black farmers from around the country gathered in front of the White House yesterday. With a cell phone in one hand, the general counsel to the National Black Farmers Association, James Myert, tried to arrange a meeting with the President Clinton. And I'd like to speak with the President. Yes, National Black Farmers Association, and I'm standing outside of the White House with every press contingent there is that I know of, and we're waiting to speak with the President. James Myert, in one hand. The call did not produce a meeting with President Clinton, though the board members of the National Black

Farmers Association did sit down and talk with Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman. They discussed a decade's worth of discrimination complaints by black farmers. Hundreds of farmers have filed administrative complaints or lawsuits against the USDA farm services agency. Glickman said he will hold a national summit early next year on improving services to minorities. He also called for the investigation of the status of individual discrimination complaints in order to resolve them quickly. In addition, Secretary Glickman wants to create a civil rights action team. Outreach is important, says Deputy Undersecretary of Agriculture, Dallas Smith. Just to simply say to our minority and disadvantaged farmers, you are now, our programs are now available to you is not enough. We have to reach out and make sure that they understand these programs, understand what's available, and also make it known that they're welcome to apply. Smith says in the past, employees have been fired for discriminatory practices. The President of the National Black Farmers Association, John Boyd,

says the administration has been sympathetic to their cause, but he's looking for more concrete steps. We have established open dialogue, but as of that, there is no commitment as to what's going to be done with the severe problems of the black farmers. We want to wipe out all four closures across the board for black farmers. The Census Bureau says in 1992, there were about 18 ,000 black farmers, about 1 % of the entire farming population. Tim Pigford has been fighting for fair treatment from the USDA for 12 years. He says he lost his North Carolina grain operation in 1995, because the USDA denied his loan request. He claims the denial was racially based. Pigford describes the kind of discrimination some black farmers face. We cannot get loans. Our loans are deliberately delayed in processing or checks are held up. It's just unbelievable. He calls the USDA the last plantation, because of its discriminatory practices. Farmer Duane Boyd agrees. He wanted

to start a cattle ranch near Starkville, Mississippi, but says he was repeatedly denied loans and help from the USDA. It needs to be a level playing field. If there were level playing field, we could do our share and our part in contributing. But when you systematically denied access to these government programs and so forth, what do they expect us to do? Quietly sit here and with their way on the vine. I don't think that'll happen now. The head of the National Black Farmers Association says he will keep the pressure on the government until the USDA pays damages to mistreated farmers and returns improperly foreclosed farms. For the Christian Science Monitor, I'm Monica Brady in Washington. This is Monitor Radio. Stay tuned. Just ahead, having faith in color blindness, the integration of a predominantly white church in northern Virginia, the story is coming up on Monitor Radio.

This is Monitor Radio. When the civil rights movement was at its peak 30 years back, black churches in the American South were the engines that delivered much of the change to that region. Now in northern Virginia, it's a white church

that's trying to engineer change on a much smaller and intimate scale. African immigrants are joining the congregation in significant numbers and as Laura Womack tells us, the change is a work in progress and it appears to be working. Calvary Presbyterian Church of Northern Virginia received its charter in 1948 when the surrounding community was almost exclusively white. Many of the original members still worship there. But in the last several years, unfamiliar faces have started showing up in the sanctuary, the deep black faces of immigrants from Ghana in western Africa. Their presence has brought changes to the church. In a recent sermon, Calvary's young white pastor, Henry Brinton, asked older members to open up to new ways of worshipping. It's hard to enjoy a new song, isn't it? When I hear a new song on the radio, I usually don't like it the first time I hear it. Our Old Testament

lesson this morning, Psalm 33, issues us a challenge. And that challenge is to sing to God a new song. Although Reverend Brinton is speaking metaphorically of singing a new song, some in his congregation are doing just that. Ghanaians now make up one third of the church membership, and Reverend Brinton has occasionally incorporated African elements such as this singing band into the service. The first Canadian to attend Calvary was invited by a church elder 12 years ago. But the population really began to grow three years ago when an evangelist from Ghana, Iao and Conza, asked Reverend Brinton if he could start a Bible class in the tree dialect. In Conza says Ghanaians at Calvary Presbyterian are grateful to have found a welcoming church in the United States. They opened all the doors for us, especially

the pastor himself and the others. They are synthesized there like part of the Christian community. In the church hall after the tree Bible reading, the Ghanaians get up in the aisles, dancing to music from their homeland. Many of the ladies wear long, colorful dresses, frightening the gloom of the utilitarian hall. The Ghanaians find joy in their worship, but their enthusiasm doesn't catch on with everyone at Calvary. Hazel Ghazni has been a member of Calvary since 1955, even though the service itself is still traditional on most Sundays. The little changes have upset Ghazni. She says the Ghanaians are taking over, and now she feels like an outsider. My oldest daughter was

married from that church. My husband was married from that church. I put a lot of money, a lot of hard work, a lot of time into that church, and I hate the idea of the people of that, moving in like that. And I don't feel like it's my home church anymore. It's hard to determine how many of Calvary's other long -term members feel the same. Reverend Brinton says he knows of only one person who has canceled their membership because of the Ghanaians. It's also hard to know for sure whether the difficulty for some white members is due to drums in the sanctuary or if the problem is really racial tension. But during the Sunday service, blacks it on one side of the aisle and whites on the other. Evangelist Iao and Kansa says some people at Calvary are trying to change

that. All over the globe, that kind of prejudices day. Whenever black and white meets, they try to be separated. But over there, some of the others and the pastor himself tried as much as possible to encourage us to miss up. There was a time he made mention that the balcony is not meant for the blacks. It's for everybody. Therefore, we have to come to church as early as possible to cover up the front views also. And some of Calvary's long -time white members are inspired by the Ghanaian's enthusiastic faith. But he currents has been attending the church since the late 50s. For some people who are old -state Presbyterians, they feel it may be a little much but it gets your foot to happen. And it makes you feel like you're taking part in the service. You're a participant with their service. You're not just sitting there listening. If the Ghanaians have strengthened Calvary spiritually, they've also strengthened it in numbers. At a time when the Presbyterian church across the country has lost millions of members,

Calvary is actually growing. Reverend Britton says most of that growth has come from the Ghanaian community. But he wants to attract more whites as well to ensure the congregation continues to be multi -racial. It is my hope that in another generation Calvary will be a thoroughly interracial church, reflecting the interracial nature of our community here. And we won't think of ourselves so much as being two separate cultures trying to get along, but one culture of Christians worshipping God together using whatever elements of whatever culture we find to be helpful to us at a given time. That vision for the future depends on the willingness of Calvary's members, both the older whites and the new Ghanaians, to reach out to their fellow Presbyterians just across the aisle. For the Christian Science Monitor, I'm Laura

Womack in Washington. While on the subject of integration, try this one on for size. The Monitor newspaper reports what's believed to be a first, a Jewish congregation and a Christian congregation have begun a unique relationship by building a common place to worship God. Though a few Jewish and Christian congregations share common spaces in certain situations, this four -year one million dollar project is believed to be the first cooperative construction effort, and it requires, as you might imagine, a certain long -term investment in mutual tolerance. It's built on a hillside in Waterloo, Ontario, and it looks a bit like a latter -day Noah's art. Has a roof that peaks at either end above each congregation sanctuary, and between the two is a folding wall. Problems? On a recent Friday evening, Temple Shalom parents and children celebrated

Hanukkah by eating traditional foods at long tables in the community room, turns out a decorated Christmas tree put up by the other congregation, stood conspicuously in the corner. But nobody seemed to mind. You're listening to Monitor Radio. We're the worldwide broadcast edition of the Christian Science Monitor. Comments? Questions? We'd love to hear them. Give us a call at 617 -450 -7779. That's 617 -450 -7779. Or contact us via email. Radio at csps .com is our internet address. That's radio at csps .com. And don't forget to tell us your name and where you hear Monitor Radio. More news just ahead. I'm David

Brown. If you'd like to order a cassette of today's edition of Monitor Radio, call 303 -823 -8000. That's 303 -823 -8000. The deadlock is broken.

The security council settles on a new secretary -general. I'm David Brown and this is Monitor Radio. Monitor Radio is the worldwide broadcast edition of the Christian Science Monitor on PRI, Public Radio International. We'll have the latest from the UN also. And about face, Rwandan refugees and Tanzania head back to the camps they just fled. Plus a single note summit. European leaders look for compromise on the road to a common currency as they face a citizen revolt. We're a country owner. I'm not capable that way. Why should we have money that's the same as everybody else? And Tom Cruzy, the prototypical action star, takes something of a sublime laid back departure. We'll have those stories and more coming up on Monitor Radio. Stay with us. For the Christian Science Monitor, I'm Kathy McLaughlin at the Monitor Radio news desk. President Clinton holds a news conference this afternoon in which he is expected to name several new members

to his administration. Monitor Radio's Jim Kane reports from our Washington Bureau. It is expected the president will name New Mexico Congressman Bill Richardson to be his ambassador to the United Nations. Richardson in recent years has been very successful as a special negotiator in a number of crises, winning the release of several Americans being held in foreign countries. The president is also expected to name Chicago Lawyer and Democratic activist William Daley as his choice for Secretary of Commerce. Daley is a longtime Clinton supporter and helped in the campaign to win passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement. He is the brother of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley. White House economic aid Jean Spurling will reportedly be named chairman of the National Economic Council. The president may have an announcement regarding Attorney General Janet Reno, with whom he met for 30 minutes at the White House Thursday night. He has reportedly asked her to stay on. For the Christian Science Monitor, I'm Jim Kane in Washington. Another of President Clinton's nominees is coming under criticism for not selling energy stocks when he was told. Sandy Berger is Mr. Clinton's choice for National Security Advisor.

The White House confirms Berger was told to sell $70 ,000 worth of Amaco stock in 1994. Berger didn't sell the stock until 1995 and by then it was worth $20 ,000 more. Anthony Lake, the president's choice for CIA director, came under similar criticism this week. The White House says President Clinton believes both Lake and Berger had committed harmless oversights. The Israeli cabinet has taken steps to encourage more Jewish settlers to move to the West Bank. The move comes just days after an Israeli woman and her son were killed there in an attack by Palestinian gunmen. Laurie Neff has more from Jerusalem. The Israeli cabinet action grants Jewish settlements tax breaks and subsidies revoked by the previous Israeli government. In response to the drive -by shooting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had vowed settlers would not be driven from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, the Syrian -based Palestinian militant group behind the West Bank shooting is vowing

more attacks against Israel. And the Islamic militant group Hamas says it will resume attacks in Israel to mark the one -year anniversary of the assassination of its chief bomb maker, believed to have been killed by Israeli agents. Hamas responded to the assassination with a series of deadly suicide bombings in Israel last spring. For the Christian science monitor, I'm Laurie Neff in Jerusalem. There are conflicting reports today about the condition of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's oldest son. Udai Hussein was shot Thursday as he drove through a district of Baghdad. Iraqi television says he was injured slightly, but Iraqi opposition sources say that he was critically hurt. This is public radio international. Some Rwandan refugees have done an about face in Tanzania, and they're now headed back toward the Rwandan border. Thousands are said to have already crossed the border while hundreds of thousands returned to camps they had left yesterday. There were reports that Tanzanian troops had prevented some refugees from returning to the camps, but a United Nations official said they had been

told they could stay for one night. Some half a million refugees who fled to Tanzania during the 1994 Rwandan Civil War have been told to leave by December 31st. Many fear reprisal if they go back to Rwanda. In Singapore, the World Trade Organization, the WTO, wrapped up its first major meeting with an agreement on information technology. Monitor Radio's Peter Hadfield has more from Tokyo. High -tech exporting countries finally endorsed an information technology agreement under the WTO. It'll eliminate tariffs on computers, software, and telecommunications equipment by the year 2000. Despite not being joined by most developing nations, the 28th Signatory Countries account for 85 % of the world's trade in information technology. There was a unanimous endorsement for guidelines on investment and government contracts, and also a last minute compromise on the issue of labor standards, including slave and child labor. These will now

be handled by the UN's International Labor Organization. That compromise helped win support for the WTO's final declaration from its 48 poorest member countries. For the Christian Signs Monitor, I'm Peter Hadfield in Tokyo. A federal judge has ruled that unibomor suspect the Ador Kazinsky must stand trial in New Jersey for the 1994 mail bomb murder of an advertising executive. Kazinsky had wanted those charges and charges he's facing in California compiled into a single case. I'm Kathy McLaughlin on PRI. This is monitor radio. I'm David Brown.

It's official, almost. A straw poll among members of the United Nations Security Council has turned up with a unanimous vote for a new secretary general. We're joined now by Ian Williams. He is head of the UN Correspondence Association. Ian, the man we're talking about is coffee anon. He is currently the head of UN peacekeeping. Is that right? Yes. What sort of man is he? What kind of reputation does he have? Well, he has a very high reputation. He's known for, well, transparent honesty and integrity. He's well known and well -liked within UN -Fircle across the board. And where is he from? What is his background? He's from Ghana, which is one of the problems, of course, is that in Ghana they speak English and not French. Let's talk a bit about that. There had been only earlier today 14 members of the Security Council supporting coffee anon one against. And as you were alluding to there, it had been largely assumed that France was the lone holdout over an issue of whether or not he was genuinely a francophone. Is that right?

Well, I think that was one of the issues. They accept that he speaks French, but they would prefer a sort of native French speaker. And also, well, I think they were holding out. They were showing solidarity with Butras Gali. And they were trying to show that if Americans can have vetoes, then so can the other five permanent members. The United States, of course, have vetoed Butras Gali for a second term as the UN Secretary General. What do you think changed the mind of the French delegate there? Well, I mean, the crude question being put in the corridors here was what was the price. And we assume that they were given informal assurances that that French, French person would have a senior, a senior posted in the United Nations organization. There are various rumors about what it was, but it would not surprise anyone if the next head of peacekeeping was either French or came from a French -speaking country. So this was a very intensely political choice, you believe? Well, yes, but I

think there's a general, there's a general agreement on the competence of coffee, and on his integrity, it was the sort of peripheral issues which were disturbing people. There is an outside chance of a hiccup, in fact. How do you mean? Well, they haven't had a formal vote in the security council yet. And it's just possible that, say, they Chinese, for example, were relying upon a French veto. And I don't know, and it seriously anticipates them producing a veto out of the hat at this late stage, but I understand that the Chinese delegation is looking a little puzzled since they were expecting things to cruise on a little longer. So you really can't write anything off. Any idea when there might be a formal vote? Could that come as early as today? Are we looking at some time later? Very likely to be today, but it's just possible that Chinese have done it in the past. They might want to, once again, to show that they too have a veto and say that they want to defer it until they get instructions from Beijing.

Obviously, it's still developing story. Ian Williams is the head of the UN Correspondence Association. One of the more difficult challenges facing the incoming secretary general will have to do with the UN's responsibilities on the refugee front. There are some half million Rwandans, mostly Hutus, in Tanzania right now. The government in Tanzania has given them a deadline to return home by years end, but instead an overwhelming majority of the refugees have been pushing deeper into the Tanzanian countryside. Until now, as Jennifer Glass tells us it took roadblocks to reverse the flow of people, but the floods far from over. The roads of Tanzania today were again crowded with refugees. They began the day moving away from Rwanda, trekking into the countryside of Tanzania, but armed Tanzanian police stopped their progress and turned the miles long column of people around, and they began trudging back towards the Rwandan border. A woman with short graying hair was among the thousands walking in the hot African sun.

Can't find somewhere for us to go if Tanzania weren't there to stay. I will go anywhere where I feel safe, but not to Rwanda, not Rwanda. Many refugees say they will be in danger if forced to go back to Rwanda. They have heard stories of attorneys who have been arrested or killed, but those are likely tales spun by Hutu extremists who control much of the refugee population. The extremists are responsible for much of the genocide of 1994 and have used the refugees until now as human shields, hiding among them to avoid detection. That may have been what they were trying to do when they drove the refugees away from the Rwandan border yesterday. Today, however, the refugees found themselves heading back where they started from. Anna Wilhelm B. Oveld is with the United Nations Refugee Agency, UNHCR. I feel sad for the people. The people have been deceived. The people who are now walking to nowhere in the forest and they have been deceived. They've been

manipulated. Sick children lie outside a makeshift medical station in a white tent by the side of the road. This is the one aid post Tanzanian authorities allowed to remain open. They would not allow relief agencies to set up water stations because they did not want the refugees to have a reason to stop. The people on the road seemed to march on and on, unconcerned that they had traveled the road before yesterday and that they are uncertain what lies ahead. I will go to the camp for arrest, then I'll decide what to do, where to go, said this woman. In the camp where she is headed, women in a truck destined to go back to Rwanda seem happy with their decision to go home. The UNHCR will take them to their villages after giving them basic supplies at a Rwandan transit camp.

Less than an hour after the trucks left for Rwanda, refugees came inside of the camp once home to 160 ,000 refugees. The Tanzanian military initially refused to allow them to go into the camps, keeping them on the road towards the Rwandan border. But then they did not interfere and thousands of refugees poured into the camps they abandoned yesterday. Some aid workers here say having the refugees in the camps will make it easier for the thousands of Tanzanian troops on standby in the region to herd the refugees back to Rwanda, a place they clearly do not want to go. For the Christian Science Monitor, I'm Jennifer Glass in Angora, Tanzania. Back in the late 1940s, when leaders from Western European nations

formed what they predicted would one day be a United States of Europe. No one expected changes overnight, but few predicted it would take as long as it has for the essentials of European union to come together. Today leaders of the now 15 member European union are gathered in Dublin to discuss what's probably the most visible symbol of their unity. The plans shift to a single euro currency in 1999. Tomorrow's newspapers in Europe are likely to feature pictures of some proposed currency designs. A move euro diplomats hope will punch up popular support for the single currency concept. The euro, as it's called, is an idea popular with the European governments and with big business, but as Stephen Beard tells us not everyone in Europe shares their enthusiasm. In a multilingual advertising campaign, the European Commission has been trying to whip up some enthusiasm for the euro. The benefits to business will be huge, says the Commission. It'll do away with the cost of changing

Frank's into Deutschmarks or Drakmer's into Passaters. European trade will be free from the curse of currency speculation. Many business people, such as Nick Riley of Vox or Motors in Britain, are sold on the euro. A stable economic environment, including stable exchange rates, makes it much more easy for us to predict our costs. So yes, that stability that that would bring is definitely a plus that we would welcome. But according to the opinion polls, the majority of the British people are not convinced, their concern is sovereignty. They fear that by adopting the euro, Britain would be surrendering even more control over its own affairs to foreigners. You've got these different countries in Europe. They don't speak the same language. They're a log ahead with each other. We're a country as England and Great Britain at one time, but we're not anymore because we're a

common deer and told what to do by everybody else except our own people. The same hostility has surfaced on the other side of the English channel in France, but for different reasons. In order to qualify for membership of monetary union, the French government has cut spending on health, welfare and education, triggering a wave of public sector strikes and demonstrations. Once they were the most enthusiastic Europeans. Now many French people, like this trade unionist, have serious doubts about the direction Europe is taking. There is no future in the building of Europe that mean less jobs, that mean less social security, that mean less investment in education, there is no future for this Europe. There's been similar unrest in Spain, Italy and Greece where deficit cutting has also brought austerity. This woman is typical of many people who feel put upon by a political elite. There are some big people up there who really think they have good ideas to make

people happy, but all I see is that things are going down the drain and people life is hard every day. So now they have found another way to put us in trouble and a new currency that everybody's going to get mixed up with for years. Opposition to the euro has been growing even in Germany, where Chancellor Helmut Kohl, the continent's most powerful politician, has put his full weight behind the project. He had trouble getting his austerity measures through the Bundestag. Two -thirds of the German population now doubt the wisdom of jettisoning their precious Deutschmark and adopting a currency which could be diluted by the weaker inflation prone economies of Spain, Greece and Italy. Businessman Heinrich Kirchheim. These countries would like to have a currency was less disciplined and I doubt if this would be good for Germany and I doubt if this would be good for Europe.

In one EU country there is no descent. There's total support for the euro. There's no need for austerity measures either. The country's economy is in such fine fettle. It would qualify now for the single currency. Sadly for the supporters of monetary union, the country in question is the Duchy of Luxembourg. It may boast the finest umpah bans on the continent, but with a population of only 350 ,000 it's hardly a heavyweight. For the Christian science monitor, this is Stephen Beard. This is Monitor Radio. Stay tuned. Coming up, Tom Cruise's new movie, not quite his usual blockbuster thriller, will have a review and around the world in just a few measures, the Cuban Rumba, African style, in Seattle.

That's all just ahead here on Monitor Radio. This is Monitor Radio. A new Tom Cruise movie is usually an opportunity for Hollywood's hype machine to go into overdrive, if there was a real mission impossible this past summer, it was avoiding the plethora of TV

ads, billboards, promotional appearances, all pumping up Cruise's most recent high octane blockbuster. Well, now hear this if you can. A new Cruise flick sneaks into cinemas this weekend with barely any advanced buzz. It's called Jerry Maguire and Monitor Radio and LA Times Film Critic Ken Taranis here to review it. So Ken, you know, when a big star has a film which turns up with so little fanfare, I suppose my first thoughts are wow, this must really be a stinker. Is that the case with Jerry Maguire? No, actually it's quite the opposite. Jerry Maguire is really a wonderful film. I think part of the reason it's come in with little fanfare is that it's not a high concept movie. It's hard to sell in a sentence. It's hard to sell in a single image. So as a result, they kind of don't know how to sell it. They're just trying to tell people and I think it's the case that this is a really good film and that people will be very happy when they see it. When I hear you say it's not a high concept film, I think, oh, does that mean it's a low concept film? I mean, what's what's basically going on here? Well, the beauty of this film is that I could describe this film as if it were a high concept film. It has a one sentence high concept outline, which I will give you in a second. But the beauty of this

film is that what's great about it comes along the edges. It's not in the plot. It's how the story is told. Basically, this is a film about a high powered sports agent. His name is Jerry Maguire, played by Cruz, who is like the hottest, most successful sports agent in America, who through a variety of circumstances ends up out of a job, out of work, with almost no clients. And it's about what happens to his life when this professional part of his life collapses. In a tank of five, these are the ABCs of me, baby. I do not dance and I do not start preseason without a contract. Five, five. Jerry, talk to me. Breathe. Breathe, Jerry. I am out here for you. You don't know what it's like to be me out here for you. It is an up and down, pride swallowing siege that I will never fully tell you about. Okay? God, help me. Help me, Rob. Help

me. Help you. This is really the usual Tom Cruise character, the Maverick and Top Gun, et cetera, et cetera. In extremist, it's the character cracking. It's the character having his own characteristics turned against him. It's the dark side of the usual Tom Cruise character we see. And yet there are other dimensions to it, at least if you can judge by some of the trailers. I had a chance to see it and it almost seems like there's a real threat of romance going on here. Some kind of relationship that he establishes with a woman in his life. That sort of happens. I mean, this is a quirky film and nothing really goes in a straight line. There's one woman in this entire office who leaves with him when he leaves. He makes a big public display and says, I'm leaving anyone coming with me. Some low -level drone accountant played by an independent film actress named Renee Zellweger. She leaves with him and she becomes his entire office staff. She's a single mother and naturally kind of because they're both young and attractive and he's in desperately

needy condition having just lost everything that matters to him. Sort of romantic things start to happen, but it's not simple. It's not easy. It doesn't necessarily go the way you think it's going to go all the time. It almost sounds like an independent film, you know? It seems to have little shades and nuances that you don't expect out of Hollywood. That's exactly the point. That's why this is a good film. The writer director is a man named Tamer and Crow who first became known. He wrote the script for Fast Times at Ridgemont High, which he didn't direct. His next two films, a one was called Say Anything. The next one was called Singles. When we're working. Offbeat films. They never quite gelled. You never quite, you felt this was a talented guy. It has it all come together for him. In this film, it has all come together for him and you really can see how you can make a Hollywood film with big stars, but make it personal, make it idiosyncratic, make it interesting, make it intelligent, but not lose the things that we really go to Hollywood films for. The movie is Jerry McGuire. Monitor Radio and L .A. Times Film

Critic Kim Taran has been talking with us about it. Thanks so much for coming in. Thank you, David. Mm -hmm. It's beginning to feel like the weekend. Got any plans? Recently, music critic Norman Weinstein was out enjoying a festival when he came across some artists he didn't quite expect. Not their name, not their sound. Something else he didn't count on. How they made you want to move your feet. There I was, standing in the midst of a crowd of several hundred at Seattle's Bumper Shoot Arts Festival, when a six -piece band with the odd name of freestyle candela mounted the stage. I was about to ask the couple in front of me who they were when drummer Will Dow began a kick drum pattern. The band's leader, guitarist's life to two -sick, began a highly syncopated guitar riff, a musical figure sounding part Cuban, part African. The bass player wove in and out of the notes, leaping from the lead guitar. Saxophoneist

Eric Walton sweetly sang through his horn and several hundred of us began bouncing on our heels to what we discovered was a form of Africanized rumba known as Sukus. Music Their concert performance, like their disc, consisted mainly of happy sounding and highly danceable instrumentals, but even the few vocal members possessed lyrics celebrating lives' ups more than downs. On Volina, a song about surviving a turbulent love relationship, the lyrics suggest that steadfast courage will enable the most complex romantic trist to survive. Here the band's vocalist Laura Chiroa expresses this life of firming

faith. As late to two -six name would suggest, his family background is northern European rather than African, but through extensive travel and study in Africa, and through a practicing with different African -flavored bands in England and the US, he was able to make African Sukus music a highly personal vehicle conveying his musical ideas. On the instrumental Kathnor Road, Titusic pays tribute to a place in London where his musical ideas came to fruition. This slow and sinewy guitar solo is simply an interlude.

Most of freestyle candela's music is uptempo full of characteristic galloping rhythms inviting dancing. Sukus, an instrumental showcase illustrating the best of this band's driving energy, reminds me of that moment in Seattle when hundreds of us could have closed our eyes and imagined ourselves in an African city like Kinshasa. Freestyle candela's disc reminds us that the authentic sounds of the tropics can happen anywhere a tropical style is transfigured and amplified with loving respect. The group is called Freestyle Candela, Norman Weinstein reviews music for monitor radio, the worldwide broadcast edition of the Christian Science Monitor. Have a great weekend, I'm David Brown. Support for monitor radio comes from public radio stations in the US and from the Christian Science Monitor, published weekdays since 1908.

Now available on the web at www .csmonitor .com.