The Heartbreak of Africa: Somalia : Can the United Nations help a cease-fire agreement to stick?

The United Nations offers the best and perhaps only hope of a diplomatic resolution of the civil war in Somalia.

The new secretary general, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, met with representatives of Somalia’s combatants last week to call for a cease-fire and a peace conference. The U.N. intervention paid off Friday when the two sides in the war agreed to a preliminary cease-fire.

An estimated 30,000 people--primarily civilians including women and children--have been wounded or killed in the fighting. As many as 400,000 are homeless and up to 4 million Somalis are starving, but dedicated and brave relief workers have faced death when they tried to help. A Red Cross worker died in December during a fight over a bag of rice. A U.N. doctor was killed last month on a mission of mercy.

These killings have made humanitarian organizations understandably reluctant to send in relief workers. The United Nations is willing to send aid, but only if the shooting stops.

At the prompting of Boutros-Ghali, the U.N. Security Council last month issued an arms embargo against Somalia. That’s a welcome but late move. This Horn of Africa nation, a Cold War strategic spot, has long possessed a substantial cache of machine guns, heavy artillery and other arms. After the superpowers left, the weapons supplied first by Moscow and then by Washington were used to oust President Mohamed Siad Barre, a corrupt and ruthless dictator.

Siad Barre’s defeat in January, 1991, encouraged hopes for another African democracy. His replacement, Ali Mahdi Mohamed, urged a cease-fire at that time. But the peace dissolved in November, when a new power struggle erupted between the interim president and his military chief. Friday they both announced that they expect to formalize a cease-fire agreement in the next few weeks. But will this new peace hold?

Outsiders stoked the war in Somalia. Outsiders--led by the U. N.--must keep the pressure on.