U.S. Opens U.N. Debate With Offer to Lead Troops in Somalia : Africa: Security Council tries to balance proposal against concerns about political accountability.

UNITED NATIONS —  The United States opened Security Council deliberations on Somalia on Tuesday with a proposal that the United Nations authorize the dispatch of American and other troops to that ravaged, starving African land under the command of an American general.

Diplomats predicted that the council will pass a resolution more or less along these lines, clearing the way for troops to move swiftly into Somalia to protect relief supplies from the country’s warlords and their marauding henchmen. Deputy American Ambassador Alexander Watson said he expects passage before the week’s end.

But the council, which met behind closed doors with Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, faced a troublesome issue: How to synchronize American command of the military forces with some kind of U.N. authority over the operation.

British Ambassador David Hannay told reporters that, since the United States would provide the most troops, most members agreed that to have an American commander was “a perfectly sensible way of proceeding.”

But Zimbabwe Ambassador Simbarashe Mumbengegwi etched a significant difference on this point. Stressing the importance of U.N. control, he said: “It is not a question of who is the commander. It is a question of the political accountability of the operation. The United Nations must define what is to be done and must decide when it has been accomplished.”

American Ambassador Edward J. Perkins acknowledged the difficulty of this point. He told reporters that the United States wants the operation to proceed in “such a way that we maintain control of the forces and respond to the secretary general’s desire that it be a U.N.-authorized operation.”

American officials said they did not offer a draft resolution to the council but instead presented proposals that could be included in a resolution later. Diplomatic sources said the American proposals focused on issues such as:

* Authorization of the use of “all necessary measures” to establish a secure environment for humanitarian relief in Somalia. The key phrase--”all necessary measures”--was used by the United Nations to authorize the United States to lead the coalition that drove Iraq out of Kuwait in the Persian Gulf War.

* A unified command set up to direct the military forces, which could reach 30,000 troops, most coming from the United States. And a call for all nations to supply either troops or financing to the operation.

* Continued deployment of U.N. peacekeepers in Somalia. At present, the United Nations has 500 Pakistani peacekeepers in the country, but 2,500 have been authorized.

* Withdrawal by the unified command, once Somalia is deemed secure for humanitarian operations, with the U.N. peacekeepers then being assigned responsibility for maintaining the country’s security.

Some diplomats fretted over how to deal with Somalia after the warlords and their followers are disarmed and the country is pacified. Belgian Ambassador Paul Noterdaeme said: “There is no government in Somalia. There are only warlords and bandits. Perhaps, in a quick way, we will have to put together something like the Supreme National Council in Cambodia.”

In Cambodia, the United Nations, acting almost like a colonial power, supervises a Supreme National Council of all the country’s former belligerents.

The council, under U.N. influence, sets policies for Cambodia, pending elections of a constituent assembly next May.

As diplomats and politicians pondered the possible military intervention, a task force of U.S. amphibious attack ships laden with 1,800 Marines and 23 helicopters continued to steam toward Somalia from its earlier position in the Indian Ocean, ready to land troops to secure the Mogadishu airport whenever the Security Council acts.

The group, made up of the Tripoli, the Juneau and the Rushmore, includes 12 CH-46 Sea Knight transport helicopters, four CH-53 heavier transport helicopters, four AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters and three UH-1 Huey general-purpose helicopters.

Defense Department spokesman Pete Williams said the task force is likely to be just off the Somali coast within two days. “What it will do when it gets on station, I don’t know,” he told reporters. “We will wait for the U.N. to make a decision.”

At the same time, the Army has about 6,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division at Ft. Bragg, N.C., ready for rapid deployment 24 hours after the United Nations gives the word.

Officials said about 12,000 other paratroopers can be sent within a few days after that.

Times staff writer Art Pine in Washington contributed to this report.