European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 10, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Model in a rigorous experience for teen students by Rosemary Sawyer Brussels Bureau or High school juniors sitting in killer chemistry classes while their lab partners Are away in Holland with a Bunch of other teen agers the Model United nations might seem to be a Boondoggle. But students who took part in simulating the United nations organization last week Call it serious business. It s exhausting said Cris Balmanno of shape american High school in Belgium. You re of the first couple of Days then it starts to catch up with  one student from bad sibling High school in Germany told his sponsor i work harder Here than in  in the course of the six Day conference in the Hague this year s 2,328 student delegates photocopied their Way through 250 reams of paper and churned out nearly 30 mock . Resolutions on questions such As the inspection and verification of arms limitation agreements and the prevention of illicit traffic in narcotic  in Short the acronym for the Hague International Model United nations Shimun May rhyme with Simon but it s anything but simple students said. This year 31 schools from the Germany and Atlantic regions of the department of defense dependents school system joined with 132 other schools from around the world to replicate the Workings of the . General Assembly Security Council and economic and social Council. Their discussions debates and lobbying revolved around the same hot topics that occupy the real . In new York. Since Shimun s founding 25 years ago participation in the program has increased eight fold making it what organizers Call the largest International exercise of its kind. Founder Paul Sand said he s humbled to see the program s growth since 300 delegates talked world politics at the Holiday inn in Leiden Netherlands in 1968. Sand s successor Bill Hungerford said one of his Aims when he took Over the program 19 years ago was to increase its size. But i had no idea it would Ever get this big he said. Now Shimun publishes a daily wednesday february 10, 1993 Famosi Sweeney Ireland pleads for his War ton nation. At right the press corps gathers. From Lef Deepika Mohan 16 Antoinette Thompson,17 Marya coga 15 and Marc Craycr 16. Newspaper during the conference produces video and hardback yearbooks and operates an alumni program. In the first years most student participants were american said Sand who now is director of the Minnesota Dakotas Region of the National conference of christians and jews. Since then the percentage of american delegates has been shrinking with non american students outnumbering the . Contingent last year for the first time. In 1992, americans represented 45 percent of the student Delegate population. This year the percentage of americans dropped to 38. Hungerford who teaches at the american school of the Hague expects the trend to continue As . Military troops pull out of Europe. Students of 78 nationalities attended this year s event providing an International flavor much like the real organization it attempts to mimic. It s just not a week off of school said shape student Balmanno who served As a Delegate from Micronesia. You come Here and there Are people Here from Russia and All Over the world. That s just part of  Bonn american High school sponsor Daniel Thompson said he liked what he saw at his first year at Shimun. The kids gel together in the hotel and they have a lot of fun together so that s unofficial lobbying but then they really know what they re doing on the floor  along with meeting other people it s also fun to kind of act this thing out said Heidelberg High school senior Alex Bueno Edwards who As pakistani ambassador had stayed up until 3 . The night before writing Security Council resolutions and planning a holy War threat against India. Kaiserslautern High school s Model United nations sponsor Marty Kollar said the International students bring additional insight to discussions and debates that take place inside the Netherlands Congress Hall s myriad meeting rooms and cavernous Halls. Many of the students have parents who work for foreign governments multinational corporations or the United nations itself said Kollar whose delegation represented Somalia this year. And Many of the schools located in world capitals have ready Access to information. Research begins As soon As students receive a country assignment in october. Many delegations arrange to continued on pegu if Short subject . Services stretched to the breaking Point by Paululis the new York times White the United nations probably enjoys a higher profile today than at any time in its history its most important peacemaking missions Are bogged Down or threatened with collapse in trouble spots As varied As Angola Al Salvador the former Yugoslavia and Cambodia raising the possibility of a damaging reversal to its influence in the year ahead. Despite these setbacks demand for the organization s services As peacekeeper mediator election Monitor and distributor of Aid remains so Strong that the Secretary general Boutros Boutros Ghali fears it May be unable to Cope with the strains. In addition members still owe More than $1 billion in dues. President Clinton and his top Cabinet officers have tried to address some of the Secretary general s concerns about meeting the needs of War ravaged or threatened countries by suggesting ways to strengthen the United nations in the Post cold War Era. Clinton has said the United states should pay up and pay up now the $410 million it owes in unpaid dues and peacekeeping costs. And Congress will soon be asked to approve a contribution to a $150 million fund to Start new peacekeeping operations. The Clinton administration also has raised the idea of a special . Force that could be deployed rapidly for emergency missions like guarding the Borders of a threatened country halting a massacre of civilians or delivering food to a besieged or starving Community. But while support for a rapid response to world crises is growing Boutros Ghali and his chief aides Are struggling to prevent several of the 13 peacekeeping missions from disintegrating. They now believe that one of the most heralded peace efforts of the Post cold War Era a 1991 Accord in Angola has failed in part because the United nations tried to achieve its goals too rapidly . Efforts to heal the wounds of War Are also faltering As agreements unravel in Al Salvador Somalia and Cambodia. But the reputation of the United nations May be suffering most in Bosnia Herzegovina where the world has watched peacekeepers stand by helplessly As serbian nationalists kill croats and muslims or oust them from their towns in a Campaign of ethnic  on Jan. 8, a minister in Bosnia s Muslim led government was gunned Down in a . Vehicle after a peacekeeper obeyed a serb s order to open the door. Now  Secretary of state Warren Christopher has expressed scepticism about the Geneva peace talks on Bosnia. Boutros Ghali rejects criticism that the  is trying to do too much asserting he could not turn away any country that asked for help. We would be accused of discrimination and double dealing if we tried to impose priorities he said. Boutros Ghali the stars and stripes 17