On 11 Jan 02, at 13:36, Barry Stoller wrote:
> HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
> ---------------------------
>
>
> Reuters. 11 January 2002. Somali Ruler Says Country 'Terrorized' by U.S.
>
> KHARTOUM -- The president of Somalia's transitional government said
> Friday that his people had been "terrorized" by a U.S. propaganda
> campaign portraying the country as a possible haven for Osama bin
> Laden's followers.
>
> President Abdiqassim Salad Hassan told Reuters television that fears of
> U.S. military strikes were hindering efforts to bring peace to the
> country, considered by Washington as a potential target in its war on
> terror.
>
> "People are terrorized by this campaign of propaganda against Somalia,"
> Abdiqassim said in an interview in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, where
> he was attending a summit.
>
> "People are terrorized to see the largest country in the world threaten
> this poor country that has been ravaged by civil war for 10 years," he
> said.
>
> Abdiqassim reiterated his position that there are no bases of bin
> Laden's al Qaeda network or other extremists in Somalia, and appealed
> for help from Washington to stabilize his anarchic homeland.
>
> "We want to unite our country, and have for that the help of the
> international community, so that Somalia will not be a breeding ground
> for future terrorists," he said.
>
> Abdiqassim said his fledgling government had set up a committee to
> combat terrorism and arrested several suspects, but its efforts were
> being hampered by a lack of resources.
>
> Illustrating the government's problems, officials say they have not been
> able to pay civil servants for four months and the information minister
> has only one working telephone line.
>
> Abdiqassim warned that warlords opposed to his attempts to unite Somalia
> were keen to exploit the United States' sudden interest in his country
> to strengthen their bid overthrow his administration, the most serious
> attempt to establish a central government for a decade.
>
> "For their own interest, they want to see America involved in Somalia,
> Somalia bombed, and then for them to take over power like the Northern
> Alliance did in Afghanistan," he said.
>
> Diplomats say warlords who watched the Northern Alliance rebels gain
> power in Afghanistan with the help of U.S. military might are seeking a
> repeat performance in Somalia.
>
> "But Somalia is not Afghanistan. The transitional national government is
> not Taliban. I am not Mullah Mohammad Omar," the president said.
>
> A team of U.S. officials visited aides to opposition warlords in the
> southern town of Baidoa for talks about the war on terror last month,
> raising fears among aid workers that a hasty intervention could stir
> further turmoil.
>
> Raising the specter of a disastrous U.S. humanitarian intervention in
> Somalia in the early 1990s in which more than 20 American servicemen
> were killed, Abdiqassim said the United States should fight terrorism by
> pursuing peace, not war.
>
> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
>
> Barry Stoller
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews
>
>
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