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Wednesday, September 22, 1993
NATION/WORLD
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Rangers capture Aidid's top aide
The Associated Press
MOGADISHU, Somalia — U.S. Army Rangers hunting for fugitive warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid scored their first major success yesterday by capturing his chief aide.
U. N. military spokesman Maj. David B. Stockwell called Osman Atto's arrest "a significant milestone in dismantling the Aidid militia." The militia is blamed for killing more than 50 U.N. peacekeepers and plaguing the effort to rescue Somalia from famine and civil war.
About 50 helicopter-borne elite Rangers took part in the operation. They slithered down ropes to seize Atto and three other Aidid supporters in a building near Digfer Hospital, an
area that officials say has been used to lob mortar rounds into U.N. headquarters in Somalia.
Militiamen opened fire on the hellcopters and troops with small arms and at least a dozen rocket-propelled grenades. No U.S. forces were wounded, Stockwell said.
Yesterday's 20-minute raid follows a series of increasingly brzen attacks on U.N. forces. Earlier in the day, Somali militiamen opened fire on an armored convoy of Pakistani peacekeepers, killing three and wounding two, two of them seriously.
Stockwell described Atto, a wealthy Somali businessman, as the principal adviser and financier to Aidid. Somali consider Atto as Aidid's No. 2 man.
After Atto's capture, Aidid's supporters threatened to attack U.N. installations in Mogadishu if he was not freed within four hours. That deadline passed without an attack, but the militia then said it would strike by noon (4 a.m. CDT) today.
Stockwell said the U.N. force was taking extra security measures.
"We understand the importance of detaining him and the potential emotional outburst that may follow this," he said.
Stockwell said some militiamen were killed in the fighting but no civilian casualties were reported. An unconfirmed Somali report said Aldid's forces suffered 13 dead and 29 wounded.
The Associated Press
BOSTON — The cost of higher education continues to outpace income, inflation and financial aid this fall, even as colleges and universities slash services, according to the College Board.
The average tuition, room and board climbed 6 percent to $6,207 at four-year public universities and 5 percent to $15,818 at four-year private colleges, the College Board reported in a survey released Sept. 15.
Tuition rates rise despite collegiate actions
The increases were about the same, or slightly less, than last year's, as competition sharpened for the dwindling number of potential students.
"Colleges have simply come to realize that the very markets they wish to serve could not afford them at the rate of increase they were following," said David L. Warren, president of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.
Although inflation was down 2.8 percent from last fall
to this fall, the average tuition and fees at four-year private universities and colleges rose 6 percent to $11,025; room and board brought the total to $15,818.
Public university tuition rose 8 percent, to $2,527,
after two years of double-digit increases fueled primarily
by state budget shortfalls; room and board boosted
the price to $6,207. The average cost of community and
public junior colleges jumped 10 percent for the third
straight year, to $1,229.
"The fiscal crisis in the states is not over," said James Applebey, president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. "But it's certainly easing up a bit."
Still, 38 percent of public universities have put off making repairs to buildings, 30 percent have capped enrollment, 31 percent have cut the number of courses they offer and 45 percent have left full-time faculty positions unfulfilled, the association said.
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