1st of 500 U.N. Troops Land for Somalia Duty

Young rifle-toting Somalis watched warily Monday as the first armed U.N. soldiers arrived in Mogadishu, the vanguard of a 500-strong force to guard humanitarian relief shipments in a starving nation.

The 40 Pakistani troops arrived amid fears that their presence could trigger new violence in a capital already devastated by civil war and inter-clan fighting.

The U.N. Security Council has authorized sending 3,500 armed troops to Somalia, but only the initial force of 500 Pakistanis has been approved by the country’s main warlord, Gen. Mohammed Farrah Aidid.

By the time a U.S. C-130 military transport touched down late Monday afternoon with the first 20 Pakistani troops, about 100 young men believed loyal to Aidid had gathered along the airport tarmac, some with rifles slung casually over their shoulders.

A second C-130 arrived 45 minutes later from Djibouti with another 20 Pakistanis. A third flight with the last of the 60-member advance party is scheduled to arrive today, according to Brig. Gen. Imtiaz Shaheen, the Pakistani commander of the U.N. force.