From: wsargeant@igc.apc.org (Winslow L. Sargeant)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: IPS:Somalia, 1.5 million people in imme'
Date: 25 Jul 92 17:14:46 GMT

/* Written 12:25 am  Jul 25, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */
/* ---------- "SOMALIA: 1.5 million people in imme" ---------- */
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: 1.5 million people in immediate danger of starvation


washington, jul 22 (ips/jim lobe) -- some 1.5 million people are
in ''immediate danger of death by starvation unless something is
done quickly'' to bring relief to somalia, according to a top
official for the international committee of the red cross (icrc).

and the latest nutritional surveys in the war-torn country
situated on the horn of africa indicate an overall malnutrition
rate throughout the country at 95 percent, said the official, jean-
daniel tauxe, the icrc's top africa official, who testified here
wednesday before a congressional committee on hunger.

he was joined by republican senator nancy kassebaum who
returned from a trip to somalia last week and called wednesday for
the united nations to immediately dispatch a u.n. security force
to somalia to provide protection for relief workers and guard
relief supplies.

''i believe the situation has reached the point where the u.n.
should go forward with the security force with or without the
consent'' of factional leaders whose forces have reduced the
capital, mogadishu to ruins in nine months of fighting, kassebaum
said.

the contending leaders, interim president mohamed ali mahdi and
gen. mohamed farah aidid, were part of the rebel coalition which
succeeded in ousting long-reigning president siad barre in dec.
1990.  last november, however, they began fighting for control
over mogadishu.

an estimated 30,000 people, mostly women and children, are
believed to have been killed or injured in the violence, while
tens of thousands more have become seriously malnourished as the
factions have fought over meagre relief supplies.

u.n. mediator mohammed sahnoun succeeded last weekend in
getting both sides to agree to a ceasefire and the introduction of
47 unarmed u.n. ceasefire monitors who are expected to arrive at
any time.

but kassebaum and other witnesses argued wednesday that a
stronger u.n. effort was desperately needed.

referring to what she suggested would be a 500-person security
force, kassebaum acknowledged that its cost ''could be
substantial.  but,'' she added, ''we are already spending over 60
million dollars this year on relief.'' (more/ips)

somalia: 1.5 million people in immediate danger of starvation(2-e)

somalia: 1.5 million (2)

but john bolton, assistant secretary of state for international
organisation affairs, while conceding the ''urgent need'' to get
food to malnourished people, insisted that the introduction of a
security force should await the implementation of ''an enduring
ceasefire.''

and he added that ''all parties'' to the conflict in somalia
must be willing to accept international supervision of the
ceasefire so that any monitoring force can operate ''with a
modicum of safety''.

noting sahnoun's recent success on this front, bolton said
washington, which had opposed the sending of a peace-keeping force
to somalia earlier this spring, was ''willing to examine on a case-
by-case basis'' whether ceasefire monitors, ''perhaps with armed
u.n. security guards,'' could be deployed outside mogadishu.

the head of the international body, 'doctors without borders'
rony brauman, told the committee, however, that the introduction
of security or peace-keeping forces now should no longer be
considered a priority.

''the arrival of blue helmets without sufficient quantities of
food will not assure the protection of humanitarian teams,'' he
said, adding that the deployment of such a force ''risks diverting
the financial resources which are so desperately needed.''

brauman insisted instead that the international community
should now mount a ''large-scale food aid operation'' that would
''flood the country with food, so that it ceases to be a high-
stakes item, stolen by those with weapons.''

noting that the united states was responsible in major part for
introducing during the cold war the high-powered weaponry  that is
now being used by the two factions, a representative from the
human rights group africa watch told lawmakers it was ''unbecoming
to say the least'' for washington to now suggest that it does not
have a major responsibility to end the fighting.

that point was echoed by kassebaum who cited washington's
''specific moral obligation'' to somalia. ''if the soviet union
still existed today,'' she said, ''we would never have allowed
somalia to disintegrate in this way.

''the question we must now face is whether our concern for
human beings is as great as our past fear of the soviet empire.''

meanwhile, peter davies, head of a coalition of private relief
agencies here, argued that the united nations should at least send
in peace-keeping troops similar to what it has done in bosnia-
herzegovina.  ''the parallels between the former yugoslavia and
somalia are striking,'' he said.

''we hope that ordinary somalis who are enduring this nightmare --
like the residents of sarajevo -- are not forgotten by the
international community,'' he said. (end/ips/ip/jl/yjc/92)

Newsgroups: soc.culture.african