From: hrcoord@igc.apc.org (Human Rights Coordinator)
Newsgroups: soc.rights.human
Subject: Update on Somalia
Date: 6 Oct 92 16:12:00 GMT
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1476700592:000:4761
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!hrcoord    Oct  6 09:12:00 1992


From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: Update on Somalia

/* Written 10:23 pm  Oct  5, 1992 by jnr in cdp:hunger.general */

APn  10/02 1633  Somalia

Copyright, 1992. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. 

By EDITH M. LEDERER 

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- Somalia's chief warlord embraced a
U.N. envoy at a public rally and appealed for peace Friday, but
left uncertain whether he would oppose the use of U.N. troops to
protect food shipments from bands of armed looters. 

At a rally of more than 1,000 supporters, Gen. Mohamed Farrah
Aidid praised the efforts of the U.N. special envoy to Somalia,
Mohamed Sahnoun, to unite a nation where civil war and famine
have claimed at least 100,000 lives. 

Dozens of armed gunmen surrounded Aidid on the dusty military
parade ground, and vehicles mounted with artillery and
anti-aircraft guns were parked nearby as he called for an end to
violence and the theft of relief supplies. 

"The looters ... and killers who murder in cold blood should be
rounded up and they should know we are looking for them. We are
after them, and they will be punished," said Aidid. 

He insisted his four-party Somali National Alliance would go
after looters in the one-fourth of the country he claims to
control in the south. 

"Many countries are ready to help rebuild Somalia, but before
they do, we have to show them that there is peace and stability
-- and that should start right away," he said. 

But he avoided mentioning the major bone of contention between
him and Sahnoun -- the 3,000 armed troops the United Nations
plans to send to Somalia to guard against looters, over his
objections. 

Much of the thousands of tons of food stolen from the United
Nations and other agencies goes to feed the clan-based militias
that support Aidid. U.N. and private aid officials say if the
looting is halted and the fighters are not fed, their loyalty
will evaporate. 

As many as 2 million of Somalia's 6.5 million people are at risk
of starvation if food doesn't reach them immediately, aid
officials have said. 

Only last week, Sahnoun warned that Aidid would be personally
responsible for the death of thousands of Somalis if he continued
to block the deployment of the additional U.N. troops. 

On Friday, the U.N. envoy muted his adversarial tone at his first
joint public appearance with the Somali warlord. 

Sahnoun, a garland of pink bougainvillea draped around his neck
and a light blue U.N. baseball cap perched on his head, told the
crowd a "small minority" was trying to jeopardize moves toward
peace and unity. 

"You people should help the leaders to get rid of them. It is
very important because the whole world is watching," the Algerian
diplomat said. 

"We in the U.N. will bring the meals you need -- and you, with
your unity ... will get rid of those people who are trying to
create problems," he said. "We can build a new Somalia." 

The crowd cheered Sahnoun, interrupted his translated speech to
sing "Today is a great day -- today we are free," from a popular
Somali song, and clapped vigorously when Sahnoun used the Somali
word `Nabat,' which means security. 

Aidid refuses to sit down with his chief rival, Ali Mahdi
Mohamed, the lawless country's nominal interim president, who
controls a small section of the capital, Mogadishu, and little
else. 

Their conflict, fueled by numerous clan rivalries, has claimed
tens of thousands of casualties and flattened the capital. It is
the leading cause of the famine. 

And while Aidid spoke Friday of rebuilding Somalia, for months he
has refused to let in more than 500 armed U.N. troops to guard
food shipments, claiming the expanded force would infringe on
Somalia's sovereignty, and that he and his 6,000 troops can
control the banditry. 

As Aidid and Sahnoun pleaded for peace, clan rivals shot at a
warehouse of the International Committee of the Red Cross in
Baidoa, forcing the agency to cancel four U.S. flights delivering
food to the southwestern town Friday afternoon. 

For more than a month, American military aircraft have been
delivering aid collected by humanitarian agencies to Somalia and
to refugee camps in northeast Kenya, where many Somalis have
fled. 

U.S. planes Friday delivered nearly 86 tons of food to Baidoa for
the U.N. World Food Program, said Army Lt. Col. Robert Donnelly,
43, of Suffern, N.Y. 

President Bush's special coordinator for humanitarian relief,
Andrew Natsios, warned Thursday that the United States would not
help rebuild Somalia unless the warring factions agreed to the
deployment of more armed U.N. troops. The United Nations on
Thursday announced it had won agreement from warlords in
northeastern Somalia to allow 750 armed U.N. troops from Canada
guard the Gulf of Aden port of Bossasso.