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               S O M A L I A  N E W S  U P D A T E

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No 4                 August 29, 1992.                ISSN 1103-1999

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Somalia News Update is published irregularly via electronic mail and
fax. Questions can be directed to antbh@strix.udac.uu.se or to fax
number +46-18-151160. All material is free to quote as long as the
source is stated.
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	Dear friends of Somalia! Do remember that if this
	list turns out to be "more than you ever wanted to
	know about Somalia" just drop me a line and I'll
	remove you. If you know other people who would be
	interested to receive news about Somalia encourage
	them to write to me. I am currently exploring the 
	possibilities to receive bulletins and articles
	on line. The possibility exists but is a commercial
	service (via dialog.com and other similar hosts), so
	what I am really looking in to is the financial side...


1. An AP message (in Swedish) describes the circumstances surrounding
the shooting of the the two UN observers yesterday. Looters came to 
the port riding in, among other vehicles, three tanks. They looted 300
tons of food and 199 tons of fuel and drove off in at least 25 lorries that
they stole. The fuel was the entire store meant for transports to the
rural areas.

Pending the arrival of the 500 UN security personnel - that has just been
postponed until next month - the port is guarded of 900 Somali guards
consisting of ex-militia men, former police officers.

2. The AP message mentions that half of the food so far sent to Somalia
has been looted. Comment: That figure seems a guess at best. 
No thororgh study has been done and when such figures emerge
 they should be seen in relation to the 10-15 (25?) % that is 
regarded as "normal" for relief operations.

3. BBC reports (as I write this) that the UN security council has approved
the secretary-general's request for another 3000 troops to be deployed 
throughout the country.

4. On USENET the debate has been going over the last couple of days regarding
the status of the US air lift. Dorothy Morse of PeaceNet has argued that
the operation actually did not reach Somalia until yesterday. She has been
attacked by a number of people who say that they saw the cargo planes 
reaching Somalia already last weekend in a CNN report. Unfortunately it 
turned out yesterday that Ms Morse was correct, the CNN report came from
refugee camps in the north of Kenya, and it was not until yesterday that
the first four USAF planes reached Beled Weyn on the Ethiopian border in the 
Hiraan region. US personnel are required to be unarmed and will stop the 
operation at first sign of hostilities.