FT933-3875 _AN-DILAWAA4FT 930911 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