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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 14               Spetember 14, 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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1. Nuur 'Elmi 'Osman was interviewed by the BBC in Cairo last week. He denies
all knowledge of the document that bears his signature and according to which
a Swiss/Italian company receives the right to dump toxic hospital and indust-
rial waste in Somalia.

REQUEST: Does anybody have a copy of the document in question? I would very 
much like to compare it with some other documents I have. Please forward it
to the fax address below


2.	GENEVA (UPI) -- United Nations officials said Friday they are
investigating charges a warring faction in famine-wracked Somalia signed
a multi-million dollar contract with a Swiss company to allow dumping of
toxic waste there.
	Supporters of deposed President Siad Barre, now in exile in Nigeria,
gave the document to the U.N. and insist it is a genuine contract.
However the man whose signature appears on the contract, which has been
leaked to the press, says it is a forgery.
	Head of the U.N. Environment Program, Mostafa Tolba, has ordered an
investigation into the situation. Officials of UNEP's European office
said the security situation in Somalia makes a trip there for a spot
check practically impossible. Meanwhile, he said, efforts are underway
to check the veracity of the alleged contract.
	UNEP is the guardian of the 1979 convention on trans-boundary
movement of hazardous wastes, which specifically bars disposal of any
such wastes without the approval of the governments concerned.
	Switzerland is a party to the convention, while Somalia is not. A
spokesman for the Swiss government said that since there was no evidence
of anything untoward having happened involving the country, he would
have no comment.
	The leaked document, allegedly signed by Nur Elmy Osman, an adviser
to Ali Mahdi Mohamed, one of the warring Somali leaders, purports to
grant a Swiss company the right to transport toxic wastes to Somalia for
incineration.