From: barnhart@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Mr. Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS:SOMALIA: OFFICIAL SAYS U.S. FORCE SHOULD BE LIMITED TO 10,000
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 02:57:23 GMT
Organization: Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A.

Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Reference: North America; Agriculture
Title: SOMALIA: OFFICIAL SAYS U.S. FORCE SHOULD BE LIMITED TO 10,000


rome, nov 7 (ips/baher kamal) -- u.s. military intervention in
somalia should be limited to 10,000 troops and end in six months,
abdi aideed hire, health minister in the east african country's
provisional government, told ips monday.

the u.s. contingent, now preparing to land in the troubed
country, should also be under the direction of the united
nations, said aideed, who is participating in the international
conference on nutrition, that began here on dec. 5 and ends on
dec. 12.

he said the period of six months corresponds to the time by
which a somali national reconciliation conference should meet to
work out a peace agreement.

aideed is a member of the interim government headed by ali
mahdi who, he said, was designated under an agreement between the
warring factions as the representative of the somali people.

he slated the slowness with which the united nations has acted
on somalia, saying that his government had asked the world body
to carry out a humanitarian intervention in the east african
country one year ago.

'now we can say that the intervention is already too late,''
he said.

aideed also criticized the league of arab states, of which
somalia is a member, and which has been anything but active on
the somali issue.

the official said the warring factions in his country are now
closer than ever to achieving national reconciliation and that
almost all the parties involved agreed to it.

he added that the somali people were already too tired.

according to aideed, the provisional government is fully
prepared to promote definitive reconciliation which, he argued,
has not yet been achieved because of the tragic emergency which
the country is experiencing.

the civil war has killed half a million people, drought and
starvation have caused the death of another 300,000 and over a
million have had to flee to neighbouring countries, aideed said.

the minister described the situation in somalia as the biggest
human tragedy of the century.

''it is even more severe than the drama of the biafra war (in
nigeria in the late 1960s) and the tragedy of starvation in
ethiopia (1973),'' he said. (more)
----


nevertheless, the reaction of the international community to
the somali tragedy has been considerably less strong than in the
case of the other two disasters.

in this regard, aideed recalled that the former un special
envoy in somalia, mohamed sahnoon, had complained that the united
nations had abandoned the country for an entire year, during
which the drama could have been averted.

the united nations even refused to back initiatives aimed at
ending the somali crisis, such as a meeting held in djibouti by
the leaders of all the country's organizations and communities
between june and july 1991, the official said.

in the face of all the initiatives, ''the united nations'
argument has always been that the situation in somalia is too
complicated,'' he charged. (end/ips/trd/so/bk-ds/kb/92)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african