Out to Save the World.(Ruud Lubbers)(Brief Article)

Ruud Lubbers, 61, for 12 years prime minister of the Netherlands, took over as U.N. high commissioner for refugees on Jan. 1. His agency is charged with providing protection for 22.3 million people in 120 countries. Among his goals: rich countries should provide $1 per capita annually to pay the costs of caring for the world's refugees and displaced citizens. He spoke recently to NEWSWEEK's Roy Gutman about the new American administration, Africa and Afghanistan. Excerpts:

GUTMAN: Where is the refugee problem the greatest?

LUBBERS: The refugee-producing continent is Africa... We have three regions, the Horn of Africa, the Great Lakes and West Africa. If you look at a map of Africa and put circles around them, the circles would overlap... A rough calculation: 80 percent of the continent is refugees or refugee-producing [nations].

Are the worst places susceptible to a political solution, or do some cases require armed intervention by an outside party?

One important instrument in Africa will be effective systems for destroying small arms. The continent is loaded with guns... They are an invitation for young people to become part of gangs, and so on.

Where would you suggest the new U.S. administration focus its energies?

We have to start a new initiative in Afghanistan to allow refugees to return, as well as improving conditions [in refugee camps] in Pakistan. And the two are related. I think I can convince the government of Pakistan to give me more [refugee camp] sites if they see that at least some of them go back to Afghanistan.