From: barnhart@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Mr. Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS:SOMALIA: Somali ambassador warns against role for warlords
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 01:17:37 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'.

Title: SOMALIA: Somali ambassador warns against role for warlords


an inter press service feature

by barbara borst

paris, dec 14 (ips) -- said farah, one of somalia's few remaining
ambassadors, is positive about the united states-led military
mission to feed his country's starving millions, as long as it
does not help warlords gain power in a future government.

''we are relieved that finally, even if it's too late, the u.s.
has taken the initiative to intervene in somalia,'' says farah who
is responsible for representing his country in france, switzerland
and morocco.

''i can only salute that intervention. but i appeal to all our
friends not to make the mistake of transforming war criminals into
political leaders.

''i believe our friends understand the situation well, but i'm
afraid they may go for the easy solution,'' adds farah.

earlier efforts to secure cease-fire agreements and deliver aid
involved negotiations with leaders of warring factions in somalia.
farah says much more thought needs to be given to developments
once peace is re-established in the country and famine brought
under control.

to build a future government that is stable and democratic, one
must call on community elders, politicians, intellectuals,
religious leaders and senior civil servants rather than the so-
called 'warlords' who, says farah, have caused half a million
deaths and widespread destruction of the country.

these warlords should eventually be bought to justice, he adds.

while somalis are virtually all of one ethnic group with a common
language, religion and culture, people have been massacred for
belonging to rival clans.

the ambassador adds that relief and rehabilitation efforts have
been too focused on the capital, mogadishu, and should be expanded
to the whole territory which covers an immense 660,000 square kms.

ahmed hagi, a press officer at the paris embassy, says that a
future somali government should decentralise power and grant
considerable regional control.

common culture and marital links among clans should prevent such
autonomy from leading to separatist movements, he adds.

with only a handful of somali embassies open, and none in
washington in the united states, paris-based farah has played a
significant role in persuading the outside world to intervene in
his country for over two years.

in official french eyes farah represents the provisional
government of somalia under one of two leading warlords of
somalia, the self-styled 'president' ali madhi mohammed. farah
has no salary of any kind and survives on personal bank loans.

somalia: somali ambassador warns against role for warlords(2)

at the moment, somalia has missions to the united nations in
geneva and new york and embassies in rome and some arab states.
diplomats who were political appointees of the dictator siad barre
were discredited when his regime was overthrown in january 1991.

farah, a career diplomat, called last year for foreign military
intervention to stop the bloodshed among the political factions
and clans that ousted barre and to protect relief supplies from
looters.

as a patriot, it was not easy to ask for a foreign 'invasion', he
admits. nevertheless, he carried his appeal to countless  meetings
around the world, convinced that only armed intervention could
save his people.

of a total population of eight million somalis, half a million
have already perished and another million are likely to die of
starvation and disease before the tragedy ends, says farah.

somali refugees have fled by the thousands to kenya, ethiopia,
djibouti and yemen where they are cared for mainly by the united
nations high commission for refugees.

a small number have found their way to europe, but farah says
they have been welcomed in only a few countries.

the netherlands has lived up to its reputation for sheltering
refugees, while italy, switzerland and britain have also accepted
some somalis. france has taken in very few, adds farah.

farah fighi, the paris embassy's press chief, says his brother
and his brother's family are now in the netherlands because french
authorities made it difficult for them to enter france.

they fled mogadishu for kenya, some 500 kms away, where he was
unable to contact them.   fighi sold most of his possessions to buy
them tickets to europe.

fighi says the paris embassy has been beseiged by phone calls
from people who misunderstand events in somalia. some callers had
demanded to know whether the rice their children had donated in
october during a nationwide appeal had reached famine victims yet.

others phoned to express their fears that the americans had
invaded somalia and would not leave.

the paris embassy is reduced to around six staff and has very
little money. ''we don't live, we survive,'' says farah.
(more/ips)

somalia: somali ambassador warns against role for warlords(3-e)

however, the focus is not on their own problems, but on the
anguish of being far from home in troubled times, worry over
family and friends and frustration over the limits of what they
can do to help.

there is, nonetheless, some hope for a solution to the tragedy
which faces somalia.

six months ago, farah felt that his country was being ignored
while the suffering in bosnia gained world attention. now, he
says, people are saying that what is being done for somalia must
also be done for bosnia. (end/ips/ip/bb/ad/92)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african