Marines, Sailors Off Somalia Feel a Sense of Duty

U.S. Marines and sailors on this amphibious assault ship off the coast of Mogadishu say they are here on a purely humanitarian mission.

But many Somalis fear the Americans are planning an invasion--finding it hard to believe that four U.S. ships and 4,000 troops are here simply to protect the arrival of a U.N. peacekeeping force.

Staff Sgt. Thomas Dawkins, 35, of Tacoma, Wash., is one of 2,100 servicemen aboard the San Diego-based Tarawa. As he put it, it is the United States’ duty to help the Somali people survive.

“Being a black Marine and being human, I feel pretty bad about it,” Dawkins said Tuesday. “We must preserve the people.”

The humanitarian message being promoted aboard this ship was not accepted blithely on the ground in Somalia. Since the Tarawa and three other ships were sent in, tensions have been high in the war-ravaged Horn of Africa nation, especially among the young, heavily armed men who have become the country’s de facto rulers.

The main warlord, Gen. Mohammed Farah Aidid, said Saturday that the U.S. force will “not contribute to peace” and demanded that it leave.

U.S. Navy Capt. Braden Phillips, commander of Amphibious Squadron 1, said the four-ship task force and its 4,000 servicemen probably will depart next week after American military planes finish transporting 500 armed U.N. soldiers and their equipment from Pakistan to Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital.

The Pakistanis are to be deployed at the capital’s port and airport to guard against looters, who have been accused of stealing up to half of the 165,000 tons of relief supplies delivered to Somalia this year.

More than 100,000 Somalis have died from drought and warfare, and 2 million more are at risk of starvation.

On Tuesday, one aid official predicted that half a million could die by Christmas if the looting and fighting don’t stop.

“The only restraint to humanitarian assistance is security,” said Stephen Tomlin, 39, a Briton heading the Los Angeles-based International Medical Corps in Mogadishu. “The resources are in place to help these people.”

The American task force is providing communications and search-and-rescue support for the Pakistani troop lift. The main body of Pakistanis started arriving Monday. More soldiers and equipment arrived Tuesday.

“We had some pretty good coordination with the folks on the ground and established the fact that we’re not here in an offensive way,” said Phillips, 46, of Lockport, N.Y. “We are here strictly to support the operation of the insertion of peacekeeping forces.”

The Tarawa, which carries helicopters and Harrier jump jets, is no stranger to humanitarian operations: Last year, en route home from the Gulf War, it diverted to Bangladesh to deliver 2,200 tons of food to cyclone victims.

The servicemen spend much of their time on training and maintenance, and only a few Marines from the Tarawa have set foot in Mogadishu, acting as liaisons with U.N. forces. A dozen Air Force personnel are stationed aboard the ship, which left its home port of San Diego on May 28 for the Persian Gulf.

On Monday, the crew raised $4,000 for UNICEF programs in Somalia and presented the check to actress Audrey Hepburn, a UNICEF goodwill ambassador.