From: barnhart@gagme.chi.il.us (Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS: SOMALIA: Pentagon to start airlifti
Originator: barnhart@gagme
Organization: Gagme Public Access UNIX, Chicago, Illinois.
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 22:50:28 GMT

Title: SOMALIA: Pentagon to start airlifting food by end of week


washington, aug 18 (ips) -- u.s. military forces will begin
airlifting food to starving somalis in kenya and in
south-central somalia by the end of the week, the pentagon
announced here tuesday.

the kenya-based operation, code-named ''provide relief'', will
be the first part of what will eventually become a united
nations effort to rush food to the 1.5 million somalis
considered in grave danger of starving to death.

but the u.s. forces involved in the operation will not be
involved in distributing and protecting the food once it is
delivered to supply points, officials here said, although
security units are expected to accompany the flights themselves.

pakistan has volunteered to send up to 500 soldiers to
somalia to protect relief efforts in the country which has
splintered into several warring clan and sub-clan factions since
the ouster more than 18 months ago of former president siad
barre.

the pentagon said tuesday it will also airlift the pakistani
force ''as soon as they are ready.''

tuesday's announcement follows the agreement earlier this
month between u.n. mediator mohammed sahnoun and all factions to
permit the 500-man force to be sent in.

the accord, which had been sought by the u.n. for several
months, prompted president george bush last friday to announce
the airlift operation and to convene the contending clan leaders
in a peace conference.

he also said he wants the security council to authorise the
''use of additional measures to insure that humanitarian relief
can be delivered'' -- an allusion to requests for future guard
forces and the possibility of authorising them to use force to
carry out their mission.

the state department said tuesday that the proposal for a
peace conference was still being worked out with u.s. allies and
other diplomats at the u.n.

the official named to coordinate the effort, andrew natsios,
told reporters tuesday that washington plans to supply more than
145,000 tonnes of food to starving somalis in the next few
months, about one tenth of which should be delivered by the end
of august.

he also stressed that the airlifts, involving 12 u.s.
transport planes and headed by a marine corps general, will be
targeted for remote areas where people are most in need. (more/ips)

somalia: pentagon (2)

pentagon spokesperson pete williams said the first planes may
fly thursday from mombasa, kenya to northeastern kenya where
thousands of somalis have recently fled.  flights to south central
somalia should begin early next week, officials said.

the two-month operation should involve more than 250 u.s.
military personnel, williams said.  the pentagon has undertaken
similar missions in recent years in armenia, elsewhere in the
former soviet union, northern iraq, and bangladesh.

natsios told reporters that the main purpose of the effort was
to ''flood'' as much of the country as possible with food, thus
bringing down prices to affordable levels and forcing hoarders to
release their own supplies.

''food has become the principal source of wealth'' in somalia
over the past year, he said, and has become the prime target for
the armed gangs which rule much of the country.  the idea is to
provide enough supplies so that ''thieves will gain little profit
from stealing it,'' he added.

given the chaos that wracks much of the country, there is ''no
guarantee of success,'' he added, saying that the sheer number of
armed factions on the ground made this ''worse than a drought and
a civil war.''

peter davies, the director of interaction, a coalition of 135
u.s. private relief and development groups, praised the u.s.
action but also called for new means to ''protect the relief
workers (and others) from the violent armed gangs.''

''we have a very great concern that 500 (guards) will not be
sufficient,'' he said.

davis also appealed for more financial help for the private
agencies, saying that relief groups since january had received
less than one percent of the 110 million dollars citizens provided
them during a comparable six-month period during the ethiopian
famine of 1984-1985.

relief agencies currently estimate that one fourth of all
somali children under five years of age have perished -- an
estimate natsios -- who compared the current crisis to famines in
sudan in 1988 and ethiopia in 1984 -- called low.

in answer to a new york times complaint tuesday that
washington's new efforts ''should have (been) done months ago,''
natsios said that it became apparently only last month that the
strategy of relying on the u.n. ''was failing.''

some critics have charged that it was washington itself which
opposed stronger action by the u.n. earlier this spring for fear
that a u.n. force in somalia would cost too much money.
(ends/ips/dp-ip/jl/jemg/92)



-- 
Aaron (Barnhart@gagme.chi.il.us) -- posting from Evanston, Illinois