RWANDA . . . U.N. FORCES STAY HOME

The U.N. authorized deployment of 5,500 troops two months ago to keep the peace in Rwanda, so why are only 550 there? Because the governments that promised to supply those troops haven't equipped them to go, the U.N.'s top peacekeeping official complained today. Undersecretary-General Kofi Annan said the troops should "be deployed at full strength rapidly" to help steer the Rwandan refugees back home. For now, the mostly Canadian U.N. force is mostly on its own until 4,000 or more U.S. troops arrive within days. BTW: Americans have contributed at least $39 million in aid to Rwandan refugees this month, from $1 donations from 11 senior citizens to $30 million in medicine from pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly & Co. The last time Americans pitched in on this scale: $100 million during the Ethiopian famine in 1984-85.