From: barnhart@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Mr. Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS:SOMALIA: 'Restore Hope' linked to U.S. oil interests, says 'Times'
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 13:46:25 GMT
Organization: Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A.

Copyright Inter Press Service 1993, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Reference: North America
Title: SOMALIA: 'Restore Hope' linked to U.S. oil interests, says 'Times'


los angeles, jan 18 (ips) -- four u.s. oil companies signed major
contracts with the government of former somali president siad
barre and are well placed to exploit the country's promising oil
reserves once peace is restored there, says a newspaper report.

in a feature article in monday's 'los angeles times', it was
suggested that protecting the companies' investment may have been
one motivation for 'operation restore hope' -- launched by
outgoing president george bush last month.

bush and other top u.s. officials have insisted that the
operation, currently involving about 20,000 u.s. troops, was
strictly humanitarian -- to ensure that relief supplies get to an
estimated two million somalis threatened by famine.

but the 'times' quoted mostly unnamed africa analysts, oil
experts, and development officials as saying the oil interests may
also have been at stake. bush and his chief of staff, former
secretary of state james baker, have long been associated with the
texas oil and gas industry.

interest in somalia's oil potential was spurred by the success
of oil-exploration projects in the 1980s in yemen, which sits just
across the red sea from its african neighbour.

by the late 1980s, giant u.s. oil firms -- conoco, chevron,
phillips and amoco -- had intensified their own exploration
efforts in somalia and gained exclusive concessions from the siad
barre government.

''there's no doubt there's oil there. it's got high
(commercial) potential ...once the somalis get their act
together,'' thomas e. o'connor, the principal petroleum engineer
at the washington-based world bank, told the 'times'.

in a 1991 study coordinated by the bank, three geologists found
that early exploration results yielded evidence of conditions
which could eventually yield ''significant amounts'' of
exploitable oil and gas.

the same study found that the somali exploration sites were
''situated within the oil window''.  that referred to huge
underground valley arcing from yemen -- the site of some of the
most promising reserves discovered in the last decade -- across
the red sea into somalia.

then-vice president bush himself recognised yemen's growing
importance as an oil producer when he dedicated a new refinery
there in 1986.(more/ips)

somalia: 'restore hope' linked to u.s. oil interests, says 'times(2-e)

somalia: 'restore hope' (2)

in his dedication speech, cited by the middle east economic
survey, bush stressed ''the growing strategic importance to the
west of developing crude oil sources in the region away from the
strait of hormuz'' -- the narrow gateway between oman and iran at
the southern end of the gulf.

particularly noteworthy, according to the 'times', has been the
role of conoco inc., the only major multinational corporation
which maintained a functioning office in mogadishu after the
ouster of siad barre two years ago.

conoco transformed its office in the capital into the interim
u.s. embassy there when bush's special envoy, amb. robert oakley,
established his headquarters there as restore hope was being
launched.

while conoco, whose exploration results were reported to be the
most promising yet found in somalia, insisted the arrangement was
a ''business relationship'' and that the government was obliged to
pay rent while oakley stayed there, it also blurred the lines
between washington and the oil company, according to sources cited
by the 'times'.(end/ips/ip/jl/cpg/93)
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