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FT 11 SEP 93 / Unrepentant peacekeepers will fire on Somali human shields:
UN chief blames warlords for civilian casualties
By LESLIE CRAWFORD
THE United Nations said last night its forces would fire on civilians being
used by Somali militiamen as 'human shields', despite casualties among women
and children on Thursday when UN helicopters fired into a crowd.
Mr Boutros Boutros Ghali, the secretary-general, said responsibility for
civilian casualties lay with the militiamen who ambushed peacekeeping
troops, using women and children as shields.
UN commanders in Somalia appear to have decided that they will tolerate
heavy civilian casualties in their battle against General Mohammed Farah
Aideed, the rebel warlord.
The US combat helicopters on Thursday opened fire on women and children in
order to rescue trapped colleagues.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said 107 wounded people were
taken to Mogadishu's two hospitals after the attack. It could not verify
Somali claims of more than 100 civilian deaths.
Three months of increasingly bitter conflict have claimed the lives of 48 UN
peacekeepers. Thursday's attack against patrolling US and Pakistani soldiers
were carbon copies of previous ambushes: burning tyres and crowds of women
and children tied down the convoy, while Gen Aideed's snipers took aim from
behind the safety of their 'human shields'.
Seven Nigerian troops were killed in this way last Sunday. The tactic was
first used in June, when 24 Pakistanis were shot and mutilated by a hostile
crowd.
In the latest ambush, US Cobra helicopters shot into the crowd.
The UN yesterday was unrepentant. 'In an ambush there are no sidelines for
spectators,' said Major David Stockwell, the UN military spokesman. He said
civilians close to the scene of an attack were regarded as combatants,
whether armed or not, and that helicopters had dropped leaflets in the city
warning women and children to stay indoors.
In the US, news of civilian casualties reinforced the impression that the
UN's mission in Somalia had gone horribly wrong.
'We went to Somalia to prevent people from starving to death,' said Senator
John McCain, an Arizona Republican. 'Now we are killing women and children.
It's got to stop.' The Senate urged President Bill Clinton to outline his
objectives in Somalia and set a deadline for the departure of US troops. The
Senate debate on Thursday reflected unease in Congress with Mr Clinton's
decision to send 400 crack US commandos to Somalia to capture Gen Aideed.
'The US has become another faction in Mogadishu's clan warfare,' says Mr Mat
Berdal at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.
'Playing this cat and mouse game with Gen Aideed has bogged down the whole
UN operation. It has damaged the credibility of the multinational forces.'
Another UN consultant, who asked not to be named, said open confrontation
with Gen Aideed's militias had destroyed the UN's chances of winning the
support of the people of Mogadishu.
Without local support the UN's hopes of disarming the city are futile.
Without disarmament, the chances of restoring peace and stability to the
shattered capital are slim.
'Neither a high-tech aerial war or neighbourhood sweeps on the ground will
flush out Aideed's guerrillas, and direct confrontation will only cause more
civilian casualties,' the consultant said. 'The UN faces a lousy set of
choices.'
The military operation has been further weakened by disputes within the
28-nation force. Many contingents resent the way the US has come to dominate
the peace-enforcing mission. Some question the wisdom of singling out Gen
Aideed as the chief villain. Many commanders have been tempted to cut
informal deals with local militias to protect their men from snipers. There
is little co-operation between troops of different nationalities, and when
disputes occur they rapidly become full-blown diplomatic incidents.
'The main difficulty in coalition warfare is reconciling different national
perspectives, and getting the various forces to accept one set of rules
under a single unified command,' admits Gen Jack Godfrey, chief of staff to
the UN's special representative in Somalia, Admiral Jonathan Howe.
Unless this happens, the UN's 27,000-strong peacekeeping mission in Somalia
risks becoming a costly blunder. The UN is already under fire for spending
ten times more on the military operation than on its humanitarian work. And
with every civilian casualty in Somalia, the UN's ambition to occupy
centre-stage in the resolution of post-cold war conflicts becomes less
credible.
Countries:-
SOZ Somalia, Africa.
Industries:-
P9721 International Affairs.
Types:-
NEWS General News.
The Financial Times
London Page 4