Somali Opposes 3,000 U.N. Troops

This country’s fiercest warlord returned from bush battles like a conquering hero Saturday and ruled out the deployment of 3,000 U.N. troops to stop gunmen looting food for the starving.

“Without our consent they cannot come and we will not agree, absolutely,” declared guerrilla leader Mohammed Farrah Aidid, returning to battle-ruined Mogadishu after five months.

Aidid said the 500 Pakistani troops taking positions this week, plus a local police force of 6,000, can handle security in Somalia.

Last month, the Security Council called for the extra 3,000 troops after relief workers said conditions were too insecure for them to take food and medicine to 1.5 million starving people.

Canada and Belgium have offered forces, but the extra troops can be sent only with the consent of the warlords. Most clan leaders have agreed, but Aidid has said they would violate Somalia’s independence--even though the country has been carved into anarchic fiefdoms ruled over by gunmen.