The World - News from May 25, 1989

The United States gave Somalia weapons that were used to viciously quell an insurgency, then provided disaster assistance to the victims the next month, the General Accounting Office reported. The congressional watchdog agency found that a $1.4-million U.S. shipment of M-16 automatic rifles and 2.3 million rounds of ammunition arrived in Somalia in June, 1988, just as the army launched massive artillery and aerial shellings to crush a rebellion in the north. Then, “starting in August, 1988, the U.S. government responded to the emergency with $1.9 million in disaster assistance to help the victims of the conflict,” the GAO report said. Since the attacks, the Administration has suspended further weapons deliveries.