A prep course for the month-long World Cup soccer tournament, a worldwide pheno

ld congressional Republicans that the Pentagon is trying to walk away from the w

ar on drugs . One State Department official , who provided a reporter with the n

ames of Republicans to call , said he worried that there might be an `` unfortun

ate perception '' that the Clinton administration is `` in full retreat on narco

tics . '' `` We are trying to understand what is going on inside the American go

vernment , '' said a frustrated Peruvian official . `` We are waiting for the di

scussions between the agencies to come to a consensus . '' The importance of the

 small aircraft to drug traffickers is not in dispute . Coca leaf grown in Boliv

ia and Peru must move northward for processing in successive stages to cocaine p

aste , cocaine base and in Colombia the pure street drug . Because dense jungle 

prevents overland transport and the rivers flow mainly east-west , the trafficke

rs have what one U.S. general called `` a north-south problem . '' U.S. intellig

ence officials believe nearly 1,000 flights a year head north carrying some form

 of cocaine or heroin . Since the late 1980s the United States has provided the 

backbone of an air tracking network capable of detecting and intercepting the fl

ights . The idea , officially , was to pinpoint the where the planes took off an

d landed and `` fuse '' that information with other intelligence in order to mou

nt ground attacks on drug labs and storage facilities . The ambitions of Peru an

d Colombia to down the aircraft in flight were largely hypothetical until recent

ly , when Peruvian Tucano trainer aircraft armed with machine guns began shootin

g effectively at the renegade flights . Peru brought the issue into the open Nov

. 4 with a dramatic shootdown of a suspected drug plane near Pucallpa , Peru . S

hortly after that , Colombia announced its intention to shoot down drug flights 

. State Department officials argue that the air traffic is so important to the d

rug trade that the United States cannot afford to remove the threat that narcoti

cs planes will be shot down . Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey , chief of the U.S. . Sout

hern Command , also supported the shootdown policy until its legal implications 

became clear . But other officials , including a senior Drug Enforcement Agency 

expert , said interceptions of drugs in flight are a minor part of the drug war 

. Official Pentagon statistics , undisputed elsewhere in the government , show t

hat 200 kilograms of cocaine were forced down last year while 300 metric tons we

re seized by other means in Colombia and Peru . Far more important than the flig

ht interceptions , officials said , are the hard-won cooperative relationships w

ith Colombia and Peru . With the Clinton administration still deadlocked , those

 relationships now appear to be in jeopardy . `` The U.S. cannot decide what we 

do in our air space , '' said an angry Colombian official in a telephone intervi

ew . `` That 's a sovereign decision and we 're not going to change it . If the 

U.S. doesn't cooperate with us , we 'll request its radars to be withdrawn . '' 

Said a U.S. government official , expressing anger against his Pentagon and Stat

e Department counterparts , `` Why could these children not come together and wo

rk this out ? The real reason we can't fight effectively against the narcotraffi

ckers is that we 're too busy fighting among ourselves . ''

 MALEMBO , Uganda This is where their journey ends , far from home , their bodie

s carried by the Kagera River out of Rwanda and into Africa 's greatest lake , V

ictoria , to be caught like perch by peasant fishermen . They have traveled more

 than 100 miles , over thundering falls and along fertile savannas , by the time

 the Kagera rages into Lake Victoria at Kasensero . It is near that little town 

that Jamil Kakora waits each morning , his boat loaded with plastic bags instead

 of fishing tackle . By the time he and his five-man crew returned to shore abou

t noon Saturday , a ghastly collection of limbs and torsos filled the boat . The

 fishermen , donning masks and gloves , worked quickly to wrap and tie the bodie

s , and to load them into the trailer of a red tractor parked nearby . `` We hea

rd about the war on the radio , '' Kakora said , `` so we knew the bodies were c

oming . We had a meeting in the village and agreed : You cannot leave these peop

le to just float in the lake . Even if they died like dogs in Rwanda , they dese

rve to be buried like humans . We all said yes , this is something we must do . 

'' As many as 40,000 bodies , relief specialists say , have washed into this gia

nt lake that provides an abundance of Nile perch and tilapia for fish markets fr

om Kampala to London , as well as drinking water for scores of primitive village

s scattered along its shores . The majority of the victims of the most extensive

 massacre in modern Africa 's post-independence history appear to be women and c

hildren . Some who reach Lake Victoria apparently were beheaded . Others ' arms 

were tied behind their backs . One cluster of infants washed downstream in a tie

d sack . Three others were joined by a single pointed stick thrust through their

 stomachs . International aid workers estimate that between 200,000 and 500,000 

people have been killed in Rwanda since the country 's president died in a plane

 crash April 6 and Hutu-dominated government troops and militiamen began an orgy

 of murder , primarily against members of the minority Tutsi tribe . Two million

 Rwandans have fled across the border to neighboring countries . Although Kenya 

has dismissed any threat from the decomposing bodies to its portion of Lake Vict

oria , Uganda has told its people not to drink the lake 's water until further t

ests are made and to boil all fish taken from Victoria for at least 30 minutes .

 Health officials also are concerned that cholera could be spread by the flies t

hat descend in thick swarms on the bodies . ( Begin optional trim ) The first bo

dies the villagers pulled from the lake were buried in shallow graves a few yard

s from the shore . They were dug up by dogs and pigs and lay uncovered for sever

al days , along with the rubbish and human waste that the people of Malembo rout

inely deposit at the water 's edge . Health officials feared an outbreak of dise

ase could result . World Vision , a U.S. relief and development agency , was alr

eady active in the region when the bodies began pouring into Lake Victoria . Its

 work dealt primarily with 160,000 children orphaned in the region by AIDS the l

eading cause of death in rural Uganda . Malembo is tucked away on the shoreline 

swamps of the Nassara Plain , 20 miles from any road other than a footpath . The

 village has no running water or electricity , and most of the 800 inhabitants h

ave concerns other than examining the daily cargo of the body-hunting fishermen 

who are paid $ 6 a day by World Vision . ( End optional trim ) Only a handful of

 people were on the shore Saturday as the tractor 's trailer began to fill with 

bodies . John Marembo , the local defense secretary and also the village 's reco

rd-keeper , stood by the tractor , dutifully recording in his notebook the numbe

r of bodies retrieved for the day .. . 18 , 19 , 20. .. . `` It is awful enough 

that Rwanda should have a war like this , '' Marembo said . `` It is also very b

ad they should give us their litter from the war . '' When the trailer was full 

, a barefoot man climbed onto the tractor and drove to a dusty clearing a mile a

way , a mass grave site bought from a local farmer for $ 80 . Joseph Kasozi and 

John Kastunga waited there , shirtless and sweating in the fierce sun . Along wi

th five others , they had dug a huge grave , as long and high as a bus . They we

re eating sugar cane stalks . Six other large graves shoveled out earlier in the

 week were already filled , covered with earth and marked by a cross of twigs la

shed together by twine . The bodies were thrown into the pit and covered with a 

liquid chemical , to become nameless wartime victims whose families will never b

e able to fully explain their fate . As the workers shoveled in earth , up the p

ath toward the clearing came the village 's lay priest , John Lubega . He wore a

 cross carved from a bone around his neck and had no shoes . He was reciting : `

` Oh , Lord in heaven , help the souls of these people . They are the accidents 

of war . We ask you , please intervene and stop the war so people may stop dying

 . ''

 WASHINGTON President Clinton chose to back away from a human rights confrontati

on with China to avoid a damaging rift with one of the world 's great economic a

nd military powers . But what is likely to ensue now , many experts in and out o

f government acknowledge , is far from a period of tranquil relations . In fact 

, now that the dispute over China 's most-favored-nation trading status is final

ly being resolved , a number of other conflicts are likely to boil to the surfac

e . Many of these have been suppressed or delayed by the Clinton administration 

's preoccupation with the trade dispute . In other words , relations between the

 United States and China are shaky enough that all the efforts expended on the t

rade dispute may produce only very fragile , short-term gains . `` Even if the p

resident were to say , ` I 'm giving MFN to China for five years , ' it 's Polly

annish to think everything else will be taken care of , '' one U.S. official obs

erved recently . `` We will stop focusing on one debate and start focusing on ot

hers , '' the official said . `` It 's just going to go on . There are still a l

ot of other issues that need to be worked out , and they 're not even going to b

e addressed until MFN gets out of the headlines . '' Over the next few months , 

the Clinton administration is likely to challenge China by moving ahead with oth

er trade sanctions that it has threatened as retaliation for China 's pirating o

f American tapes , compact discs , movies and computer software . While the Amer

ican business community opposed Clinton 's linkage of human rights and China 's 

trade status , it also strongly supports a tough stand on these copyright and pi

racy issues . Over the next year or two , the United States and China are also l

ikely to clash over China 's continuing nuclear tests , which are likely to resu

me soon . In addition , the United States could well find itself complaining aga

in about China 's arms exports . And China will haggle with the United States ov

er the future of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the terms for its memb

ership in the new World Trade Organization , the successor to the General Agreem

ent on Tariffs and Trade . That list of disputes does not even include other , p

ossibly more contentious controversies , such as those over North Korea 's nucle

ar program and the future of Cambodia , still torn by civil war despite a 1991 p

eace treaty . Once the trade and human rights linkage is behind them , however ,

 Clinton administration officials are likely to try hard to upgrade ties with Be

ijing . `` My guess is that after MFN , they are going to go into a full-court p

ress to improve relations with China , '' said former U.S. . Ambassador to China

 James R. Lilley. `` They 're going to move fast and hard . We 've got important

 interests in North Korea and Cambodia , and we could use China 's help . '' As 

part of that effort , Washington sources said , the administration is expected t

o announce soon the appointment of a new envoy to China . The likely candidate i

s a veteran China specialist , Charles W. Freeman Jr. , now assistant secretary 

of defense , who served during the early 1980s as deputy chief of mission at the

 U.S. . Embassy in Beijing . Some U.S. China experts point to recent trends that

 suggest that separating the trade and human rights issues may not ease friction

s between Washington and Beijing for long . Only a year ago , with much less fan

fare than last week , Clinton `` de-linked '' the issues of arms proliferation a

nd China 's trade benefits . Before Clinton took office , President Bush had rep

eatedly vetoed legislation that would have required China , before winning a ren

ewal of its trade privileges , to make progress not only on human rights but als

o on curbing its arms exports and reducing its trade imbalance with the United S

tates . Clinton enshrined the linkage between most-favored trade benefits and hu

man rights in an executive order a year ago . But at the same time , he dropped 

the conditions on arms exports and the trade imbalance , saying that these probl

ems could be dealt with through other means . So what happened ? The administrat

ion felt obliged to prove that , even without most-favored trade linkage , it co

uld take tough action against the proliferation of weapons and missiles . Last A

ugust , as punishment for China 's sale of missile technology to Pakistan , the 

United States imposed sanctions barring the sale of American-made satellites to 

China . ( Optional Add End ) `` They ( administration officials ) de-linked trad

e and arms control last year , but the result afterward was a downward trend in 

the relationship , '' one U.S. official said . `` And I 'm afraid that , to prov

e that they still care about human rights , they 'll do things now on human righ

ts that will ring off even more bells in Beijing than MFN linkage , such as acti

ons to upgrade ties with Taiwan and Tibet . '' Indeed , in the first 24 hours af

ter Clinton announced that China 's most-favored trade benefits would be renewed

 , top administration officials began to suggest that the president might take o

ther actions on human rights that could produce new frictions between Washington

 and Beijing . `` I think that , in the future , we 'll be keeping steady pressu

re on , through other instruments , in a way that may cause ( Chinese officials 

) to make more progress in the future , '' Secretary of State Warren Christopher

 said . `` We 're certainly not giving up on improvement in human rights in Chin

a . ''

 VLADIVOSTOK , Russia On the first day of a cross-country tour to rediscover his

 Russian homeland , Alexander I . Solzhenitsyn visited a hospital Saturday . As 

the famous author stepped into an elevator , a small crowd of doctors and a tele

vision film crew jammed in with him . Instead of going up to the director 's off

ice on the sixth floor , the overloaded elevator sank part way between the lobby

 and the basement and stuck there for 15 minutes before a mechanic came to the r

escue . Aside from the hazards of everyday life here , the mishap reflected the 

quandary of Solzhenitsyn 's identity as he returns from two decades of exile to 

help post-Soviet Russia find itself . Is he an intellectual or a celebrity ? can

't he have peace to search for new truths , or must he put up with media stardom

 and intrusive fans ? And how long can the 75-year-old Nobel laureate depend for

 special protection on a government he criticizes so fiercely ? Solzhenitsyn spe

lled out his controversial views on Russia 's ills at a wide-ranging news confer

ence , insisting that there is no real democracy or economic reform here , no cl

eansing of the communist legacy and too much imitation of the West . ( Begin opt

ional trim ) He was equally passionate about his privacy . `` I would prefer not

 to have 200 photographers crowding around me all the time and shooting me day a

fter day , '' he said . `` I need to talk to the common people .. . to learn in 

detail about life in Russia . '' To be more specific , he said he resents the fa

ct that somebody in the crowd stepped on his wife 's foot after their triumphant

 landing here Friday on a flight from Alaska . `` When it 's enough for each pho

tographer to take two shots , why take 250 ? '' ( End optional trim ) After gree

ting doctors and eye surgery patients at the Territorial Clinical Hospital , Sol

zhenitsyn rode to the city 's Pacific port , where he was greeted by a navy band

 playing a lively classical medley , well-wishers pressing for autographs and mo

re cameras . Strolling down a waterfront aisle of merchants selling food from tr

uck-sized freight containers , the writer acted the part of a modern Rip Van Win

kle just awakened from a 20-year nap . `` How much is that ? '' he asked a man s

elling sausages . `` 10,000 rubles , '' the merchant replied . About $ 5 a kilog

ram . `` I don't get it , '' Solzhenitsyn said , touching his long beard and app

earing amazed . `` When I left the country many years ago , prices were very dif

ferent . '' `` Come again soon , sir , '' the merchant said with a laugh , `` an

d I 'll sell it to you for an even higher price ! '' Plainclothes police officer

s locked arms in a protective ring around Solzhenitsyn and his wife as they walk

ed , while uniformed cops stopped people at random to inspect purses and shoppin

g bags . `` While he 's here , we will keep him under guard whether he likes it 

or not , '' said Igor P. Lebedinets , the acting territorial governor . `` We 'r

e mobilizing hundreds of men . '' Later , Solzhenitsyn was driven in a black gov

ernment Volga sedan to have lunch aboard one of the two luxury rail cars sent fr

om Moscow by the Railway Ministry for his trans-Siberian journey to the Russian 

capital . The cars , equipped with a kitchen and Oriental carpets , will carry h

is entourage of family , friends , chefs , attendants , security police and a Br

itish Broadcasting Corp. documentary film crew . Solzhenitsyn said the 5,700-mil

e rail journey , which will take several weeks , will allow him to make many sto

ps and to `` see things through the window . '' He said he last saw Siberia from

 a prison van during his eight years in Stalin 's gulag after World War II the s

eminal experience for his powerful writings against the Soviet system . The lavi

sh official hospitality by the current authorities prompted one Russian journali

st to ask Solzhenitsyn about comparisons to Maxim Gorky , the writer brought bac

k from Italian exile under Stalin . `` Gorky came back to serve the regime , '' 

Solzhenitsyn replied . `` I will never serve the regime , whatever government is

 in power . '' ( Optional Add End ) But he refrained from criticizing Russian Pr

esident Boris N . Yeltsin , who sent a congratulatory telegram saying : `` Your 

talent and your experience as a historian and thinker will help us all in reorga

nizing Russia . '' The writer did , however , repeat many criticisms he had made

 abroad about the Yeltsin government 's attempts at reform . For example , he de

scribed the 1992 decisions to free prices and sell off state property without br

eaking up monopolies as `` brainless '' steps that had made a country already wr

ecked by the communists even poorer . He called Russia a `` pseudodemocracy '' t

hat still lacks local self-rule , has failed to punish the crimes of Soviet repr

ession and blindly imitates Western ways unsuited to its culture . While Solzhen

itsyn denied any political ambitions , his more measured Russia-first views are 

likely to strike a powerful chord as he travels and speaks across the country . 

`` The atmosphere in the hospital changed in one minute after he came , '' said 

Yelizaveta B . Pyatina , 58 , a patient there . `` Everybody began smiling and t

alking about books , politics , history . We all forgot about our ailments . ''

 WASHINGTON Rep. Dan Rostenkowski , D Ill. , has signaled that he intends to rej

ect any plea bargain and vigorously contest anticipated charges that he abused h

is office by diverting public money for personal use , associates of the powerfu

l lawmaker said Saturday . Unless Rostenkowski should have a last-minute change 

of mind , federal prosecutors are expected to seek a grand jury indictment early

 this week , possibly Tuesday . `` He 's not giving up , he 's going to fight it

 , '' one associate said of the 18-term congressman . Other sources said Rostenk

owski was reluctant to resign from Congress , which acceptance of a plea agreeme

nt would involve , and admit to a series of felonies that would permanently scar

 a Capitol Hill career of more than 35 years . A spokesman for Rostenkowski said

 Saturday that he had no immediate comment on the matter . According to federal 

sources , an indictment is likely to allege that Rostenkowski defrauded taxpayer

s of hundreds of thousands of dollars through both his Washington and Chicago of

fices . That sum would include cash he allegedly received improperly from the Ho

use of Representatives ' post office in transactions disguised as stamp purchase

s , and government funds misused to buy furniture and gifts for friends and cons

tituents , the sources said . Once indicted , Rostenkowski , 66 , would have to 

step down as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee under House Democrat

ic rules , but he still could remain as a member of the tax-writing panel , whic

h has been considering President Clinton 's health care plan . If he were acquit

ted of the charges , he could then regain his chairmanship . Rostenkowski 's law

yers have advised him that a plea agreement would enable him to avoid the humili

ation of a public trial and the prospect of conviction and a prison sentence lon

ger than the one-year term understood to be part of the agreement . However , Ro

stenkowski , who is represented chiefly by Robert S. Bennett , one of Washington

 's most skilled defense attorneys , probably could force a delay of any trial u

ntil after the congressional elections in November , legal sources said . His de

cision to contest the anticipated charges , pending a change of heart , scuttles

 three weeks of intensive negotiations between Bennett and U.S. . Attorney Eric 

Holder , a Clinton administration appointee who inherited the two-year investiga

tion last fall from his Republican predecessor , Jay Stephens . One source said 

Holder has been given full authority to proceed with the case as he sees fit wit