Some diplomats contend that these workers, most of whom are crowded into offices in the Secretariat, will function only in an environment flooded with paper.

Syrian policy, in the end, will rise and fall on the whims of one man, President Assad, diplomats contend.

The advocates of the full ban, the diplomat contended, "are just trying to make their point.

But again, diplomats contend, the Palestinians have yet to name the council members.

In addition, Government officials and foreign diplomats contend, the military controls criminal enterprises that have enriched senior members of the general staff and local commanders.

Western diplomats contend that without the Russian specialists who ran it, the country's air defense system has been severely crippled by the withdrawal.

Western diplomats and relief officials contend that this suffering was unnecessary.

Many Western diplomats now contend that the Government is too weak to sustain the shock of serious reform.

The Government lists inflation at 26.1 percent, but Western diplomats contend the rate is closer to 50 percent.

Relief officials and Western diplomats contend that the Government wants to keep Islamization, particularly in the south, from foreign scrutiny.