NATION/WORLD UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, December 8, 1993
5
Somalia's future remains uncertain
Clan conflict remains despite famine relief and military presence
The Associated Press
MOGADISHU, Somalia — There is food in Somalia now and bright-eyed, laughing children. Still, a haze of anarchy and clan conflict obscures the future.
A summer of battles in Mogadishu between U.N. troops and supporters of Mohamed Farrah Aidid has overshadowed the success of the mercy mission in relieving hunger and restoring calm elsewhere in Somalia.
In Mogadishu, American soldiers and other foreign troops mainly sit in fortified compounds, seeing few, if any, Somali. They train in urban warfare for possible rescue missions in the warren of narrow streets. Much of their time is spent fighting boredom by playing cards or volleyball.
Aidid, the man responsible for the deaths of American fighting men, was flown by a U.S. plane to attend talks in Ethiopia.
The president of Ethiopia is meeting with Somali faction leaders in an effort to set up a peace conference with little success.
In a country with generations of fac
tional violence, clan loyalties take precedence over all else. There are six main clans and a bewildering welter of sub-clans.
While some Somalis still smile and wave when foreigners drive by in the city, more shake their fists in anger.
It is a sharp contrast to the countryside. There, foreign troops get a warm reception.
That was the result world leaders sought when they intervened a year ago.
Disease, warfare and famine killed about 350,000 Somalis in 1992, and the world watched in horror as long lines of living skeletons trudged across a scorched land in search of food.
Operation Restore Hope came to pacify Somalia and allow delivery of life-saving food.
The landing in the early hours of Dec. 9, 1992, was bizarre. American commandos struggled ashore on a Mogadishu beach, shielding their eyes from TV lights and brushing aside microphones and journalists.
Thanks to the international effort, aid workers could do their job again. Helped by a break in the drought, farmers have harvested bumper crops. A few schools have re-opened.
In April aid agencies began trying to wean Somalis from food aid so they could concentrate on desperately
needed health care.
But with starvation waning, the anarchy and violence that caused the famine steadily seeped back into Mogadishu's everyday life.
A critical turning point in the United Nations' first effort at nation-building came on June 5. Simultaneous ambushes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
After the attacks, the signs of progress in Mogadishu vanished as U.N. troops fought with Aidid's militiamen.
Then on Oct. 3, a furious, daylong battle killed 18 American soldiers and 300 or more Somalis. That led Washington and then the United Nations to accept Aidid as a political force.
"Aidid has made it clear he wants international assistance and is prepared to work with the United States on a range of issues," said Richard Bogosian, the recently named U.S. ambassador. "Every Somali, including Aidid, has said it's time to work for peace. He's not rattling swords."
Still, there are reports the factions have been re-arming in preparation for battle after the American withdrawal. U.N. officials also recently warned that international terrorists, probably from the Muslim fundamentalist group Hezbollah, have arrived in Mogadishu for possible attacks.
Serbs continue to block U.N. aid convoys
The Associated Press
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — Bosnian Serbs are again blocking the delivery of clothes and other winter supplies to millions of Bosnians, U.N. officials said Tuesday.
The convoys are crucial for the survival of nearly 3 million Bosnians this winter.
Bosnian Serbs have refused to allow the delivery of winter materials, such as wood or plastic sheeting, claiming they are not humanitarian aid.
Serbs have blocked deliveries of winter clothes, shoes and office supplies for aid workers in the besieged Muslim town of Gorazde, said Ron Redmond, a spokesman for the U.N. High Commission for Refugees, based in Geneva.
Serb soldiers also were refusing to allow a team of Swedish engineers into the city, one of six U.N.declared "safe areas." The engineers want to rebuild at least 200 shell-damaged houses. Redmond said.
He said about 60,000 people are living in "terrible conditions" in Gorazde, where Serb shells had severely damaged 60 percent of the buildings.
Only two UNHCR convoys have reached Gorazde since Nov. 7, and food is short, he said. There is no electricity or running water.
The soldiers at the checkpoint to Goradez "have indicated they don't care what the Bosnian Serb authorities say
about anything." Redmond said.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees last month summoned the leaders of Bosnia's three warring factions
— Serbs, Croats and the Muslim-led government — to Geneva. They signed a pledge Nov. 18 to allow free passage of convoys and gave the aid agency the right to decide what constituted humanitarian aid.
Redmond said the Serbs had not kept their promise.
Nikola Koljevic, vice president of the self-proclaimed Bosnian Serb republic, rejected the U.N. criticism. He also repeated the Serb position that construction material "is not strictly humanitarian aid."
Ray Wilkinson, the UNHCR Sarajevo spokesman, said Monday that aid convoys into Bosnia had picked up after a dismal November, but remained disappointing.
He cited a bottleneck on a route through eastern Bosnia where Serbs were insisting that their checkpoint would be open only one hour a day.
Lt. Col. Bill Aikman, the U.N.'s military spokesman in Sarajevo, said Serbs had presented a "long list" of conditions for allowing convoyes into Tuzla.
Those included clearances for all equipment on the convoys. Serbs also wanted to delay all convoyes until a meeting Friday with U.N. officials. They were also opposing having interpreters travel with the convoys, Alkman said.
Four convoy, carrying supplies for U.N. troops, were allowed to head to Tuza on Tuesday, U.N. officials said.
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