The United States cannot, and should not, be the world’s policeman. But the desperate conditions in Liberia are hard to ignore. United Nation’s Secretary General Kofi Annan has asked for an international peacekeeping force to stop the fighting that has driven thousands in the West African country to flee their homes and seek refuge in the capital of Monrovia. He strongly suggested the United States head such a force.

Mr. Annan is right about the need for a strong international presence in Liberia. But, while it is currently popular to call upon the world’s only super power to solve myriad problems, it is not practical. If the United States leads a peacekeeping mission in Liberia, why not in the Congo also. Why was Sierra Leone ignored? The list of countries torn by civil strife and in need of a referee goes on and on. This is not to say that the international community should turn its back on the many countries ravaged by civil wars and tribal fighting. Rather, the situation in Liberia speaks to the need for a strong United Nations, with positive American support, that works to change conditions before the fighting starts.

Recent news reports warn that the famine in southern Africa is far from over. In addition, 70 percent of the world’s AIDS cases are in sub-Saharan Africa where the life expectancy has fallen below 40. Without battling these two problems, peacekeeping efforts will fail because the cycle is predictable. Once aid money and supplies flow into a country, corrupt politicians keep the largest portion for themselves and their supporters. When rival groups seek to get a share of the goods and power, violence erupts.

Once the fighting starts, it is often too late to step in. And, unlike the Cold War days when taking sides in a civil war was a proxy for the power struggles between the United States and the Soviet Union, today the world’s most powerful countries don’t have a direct stake in the results of internecine fighting. Therefore, they have less interest in stopping it.

While it appears President Bush will properly send some troops to Liberia, during his trip to Africa next week he should also commit to redoubling America’s involvement in and support of the United Nations. This is the body that should try to stop the fighting in Liberia, Congo, Sierra Leone and the next country where it flares up.

Strengthening the United Nations, with money and, perhaps, limited personnel for peacekeeping missions, will go much farther toward ending the misery in Africa than will pleading with the world’s strongest nation to lead the charge simply because it has the biggest military and budget.