U.N. Assembly Picks Argentine as New Leader : Foreign Minister Defeats Barbados Envoy; Vote Recalls Falklands War

UNITED NATIONS — Argentina won the presidency of the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, and the new leader immediately attacked “the widening of the gap between rich countries and a large part of the developing world” as the major source of global tension.

Foreign Minister Dante Caputo indicated in a statement to the General Assembly that he intends to revive an economic debate that spurred U.S. discontent with the United Nations a decade ago and culminated in the withholding of hundreds of millions of dollars in American dues.

Earlier this month, President Reagan released $188 million in unpaid funds after the United Nations had teetered on the edge of bankruptcy.

“The unfair North-South relationship,” involving the financing of Third World debt, leads to “the contrast between political peace and economic injustice,” Caputo argued in his inaugural speech to the 43rd session of the world body. Argentina is the third largest debtor nation after Brazil and Mexico.

“The problem with the South (poorer nations) is not debt or trade, but development, which turns out to be a priority for the North (industrialized nations) as well,” Caputo declared. “The immense wealth that mankind has created today makes it possible to recover the concept of development as a central objective, shared by all nations.”

At the same time, the 47-year-old official cited U.N. achievements in arranging a cease-fire between Iran and Iraq and helping to produce accords in the Afghan and Western Sahara conflicts.

As a result, the atmosphere for international cooperation between East and West is much improved, he said.

But he denounced South Africa’s apartheid policy of racial segregation and said there has been a “sharp deterioration of the situation” in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Largely Ceremonial Post

The post of General Assembly president is largely ceremonial, but it can wield considerable influence in setting the tone for debate. The term is for one year. Caputo replaces East German Deputy Foreign Minister Peter Florin in the post.

Caputo was elected on a vote of 91 to 66 in a surprise victory over Dame Ruth Nita Barrow, the U.N. envoy from the tiny Caribbean island of Barbados. The election, which was expected to be close, revived some enmity remaining from the 1982 British-Argentine conflict over the Falkland Islands.

Most of the Caribbean nations, which are former British colonies, aligned themselves with Britain in backing Barrow, while continental Latin American states backed Argentina and Caputo.

The United States did not disclose how it voted in the secret ballot.

Guillermo McGough, a spokesman for Caputo, attributed the victory to the installation of democracy in Argentina by President Raul Alfonsin after the ouster of the military rulers who launched the invasion of the Falklands.