UN'S ANTI-DRUGS EFFORT 'IN CHAOS'

Special Report: Drugs In Britain

The United Nations office responsible for fighting drugs and organised
crime has been reduced to chaos during the last three years, according to a
leaked memo from its Vienna headquarters.

The memorandum accuses Pino Arlacchi, the head of the organisation, of a
tendency to announce multimillion pound projects aimed at combatting drug
production worldwide. Yet, it claims, the money seldom appears and many
projects are quietly abandoned.

Mr Arlacchi, a sociologist who established his reputation by fighting the
Mafia in Italy, became head of the UN Office for Drug Control and Crime
Prevention in September 1997.

He said last night that in every organisation where there is reform, there
are people who are unhappy with change. "These are disgruntled people and
some of them are spreading false accusations, rumours and garbage," he said.

The confidential memo, sent on December 6 by Michael Schulenburg, director
of the operations and analysis division, is scathing. He wrote: "Despite my
personal disappointment, I still feel that you are a man with exceptional
energies and political qualities. But you are also the worst manager I have
come across."

He left the organisation two days after sending the memo. Mr Arlacchi's
spokesman, Sandro Tucci, said Mr Schulenberg's contract had not been
renewed because of his performance.

Mr Arlacchi, 49, is scheduled to arrive in London on Monday for a press
launch of his organisation's world report on drugs. He is to be accompanied
by the British drugs chief, Keith Hellawell, and the Foreign Office
minister, John Battle.

In the 11-page memo, which has been sent anonymously to selected newspapers
in Europe, Mr Schulenburg went through promises allegedly made by Mr Arlacchi.

According to the memo, in 1997 Mr Arlacchi promised Afghanistan's Taliban
government a $250m project for alternative development and job creation, to
replace drugs cultivation, but none of the funds have been raised. Mr
Arlacchi denies making any such promise.

He also disputed Mr Schulenberg's claims that efforts to raise $80m for a
project in Laos had raised only $1.8m, saying that in fact the project was
a success and that the US and European countries had put up $5m. Laos in
the first year had cut poppy production by 30%, he said.

Mr Arlacchi added that most of the projects initiated worldwide were "alive
and on-going".