____________________________________________________________________ S O M A L I A N E W S U P D A T E ____________________________________________________________________ No 32 October 14, 1992. ISSN 1103-1999 ____________________________________________________________________ Somalia News Update is published irregularly via electronic mail. Questions can be directed to antbh@strix.udac.uu.se or to fax number +46-18-151160. All material is free too quote as long as the source is stated. ____________________________________________________________________ IN THIS ISSUE: MORGAN CAPTURES BAARDHEERE UN TO INTENSIFY OPERATIONS MORGAN CAPTURES BAARDHEERE (Uppsala, October 14, SNU) SNF, a faction loyal to Somalia's exdictator Mohamed Siyad Barre, have following several days of sporadic fighting taken control over the town Baardheere. Baardheere has functioned as the headquarters for the leader of the USC, general Aydiid, who is now reported to have fled to Mogadishu. The SNF forces were commanded by the infamous general and son-in-law of Barre, "Morgan" or "The Butcherer of Hargeysa". Morgan and his forces were earlier this year pushed into the NE Province of Kenya from where he recently resettled into Ethiopia to finally join forces with the SNF in Gedo region of Somalia. This is Morgan's first major operation with the the SNF. His own forces are not known to have formed any organisation on their own, but belong largely to the three Harti clans of the Daarood clan-family, i.e. the Warsangeli, the Majertayn and the Dhulbahante. SNF consist chiefly of members of the Marehan clan. Morgans most infamous deed was the destruction of Hargeysa, Somalia's second largest city in the summer 1988. SNF forces in May this year reached as far as Afgooye, only 30 kilometres away from Mogadishu. They were defeated and driven back up to Gedo region by USC forces lead by general Aydiid. Later on during the summer Aydiid's forces entered into a confederation with the Ogadeen forces of the SPM, under the leadership of Only a week ago a Kenyan helicopter crashed in Baardheere and the crew were questioned by the USC, then in control of Baardheere. USC has several times accused Kenya for supporting the ex-dictator and for providing the SNF and Morgan with logistical support. In a recent article in Kenyan paper Daily Nation predient Moi denied this. WFP announces in an AP statement that they immediately cancelled all flights of relief food to Baardheere due to the instability of the area. Baardheere has over the past monbhts received a steady influx of refugees from the looted villages in the inter-river area and from the communities farther south along Jubba river. The news about Baardheere's new regime comes just as several aid- agencies have reported that there is reason for cautious optimism regarding Somalia and that humanitarian efforts are now beginning to show some results. UN has recently announced that it will intensify its operations (see below). A number of Somali experts in Europre and United States maintain the only road to lasting peace and meaningful relief work necessitates the establishment of "safe zones" guarded by UN personnel and out of reach for the warlords. UN TO INTENSIFY OPERATIONS Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved. Permission to re-print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'. new york, oct 10 (ips) -- the united nations and its agencies are attempting to boost assistance to somalia by launching another appeal ''to breathe new life energy'' into international relief efforts for the african country, james baker, director of the u.n. special emergency programmes said here this week. baker told ips the relief effort, to be known as the '100-day programme', will be presented for approval oct. 12-13 in geneva to international charity bodies, non-governmental organisations (ngos) and to countries willing to donate relief aid to somalia. the '100-day programme' is so called to give the initiative a timeframe and to put pressure on the international community to move faster. ''people are dying; it is time for us to do more'' said baker, who noted that the plan is a continuation of the united nations' consolidated inter-agency appeal, first launched in jan. 1992 in response to the intense humanitarian crisis in the horn of africa. launching that appeal, u.n. secretary-general boutros boutros- ghali said that 621 million dollars was needed to provide humanitarian assistance from feb. 1 to july 1992. some 576 million dollars was pledged in response to the appeal. however, in july, u.n. under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs jan eliasson said that the actual deliveries had been slow and that response to non-food aid requirements had been disappointing. an renewed consolidated inter-agency appeal was then launched, with the united nations asking for a further 117 million dollars for somalia. the requests in that plan were based on the assessments of a u.n. team which had visited the country in may. referring to these appeals, baker said ''the trick is to keep up (the relief aid) to finish the job''. this money was expected to have lasted til the end of the year, but already, more is needed. according to baker, somalia needs an estimated 60,000 tonnes of food a month. despite the fact that u.n. agencies have been present in somalia since apr. 1991 and that food aid has arrived, the famine there is spreading. the united nations and international agencies are struggling to fight back starvation. but as baker said, it is a case of ''the further back you let it slip, the harder it is to keep up with it''. problems of aid distribution within somalia have been two-fold: the lack of security as well as access have hindered food from reaching destinations. in early september, the united nations reported that only half the food it had dispatched to the country this year ever reached those most in need. the charity organisation 'care' estimates that 20 to 30 percent of village-bound food convoys get attacked. but access has reportedly improved and now areas in central somalia are reachable for relief workers, which means more aid will be needed, said baker. the u.n. security council has promised 3,500 troops for somalia, and baker thinks this fact will help encourage more donations. a 500-strong pakistani contingent arrived in the capital sep. 29, with the task of protecting convoys and distributing food. the troops are to be deployed in four areas: north-west, north-east, central and southern areas. ''often food distibution will increase instablity,'' baker said. ''people fight over the food, but if we bring enough in, hopefully that contributes to the overall political solutions needed''. ''supply is not a constraint now, but i think there will be supply problems before the end of the year.'' said baker. the first warning of a famine disaster in somalia which has been exacerbated by war and drought came last december. the situation became more bleak when the ruler of 21 years, siad barre, was overthrown and the counrty was left with no leader. mogadishu then became the battlefield between two warlords, notably mohamed farah aidid and mohamed ali mahdi. only in april did internatinal relief aid begin arriving. the latest red cross estimation is that 1.5 million somali face starvation. _____________________________________________________________________ Posted by Bernhard Helander in Uppsala, Sweden.