More Marines Head Home from Somalia

Nearly 500 Marines boarded planes for home Monday, the first of 2,700 U.S. troops being pulled out of Somalia this week in the biggest withdrawal since U.S. forces landed in December.

In another development, representatives of nine warring Somali factions began a three-day meeting in Mogadishu to prepare for a peace conference.

The first 473 Americans to leave Monday were members of the 1st Combat Engineer Battalion of the 1st Marine Division of Camp Pendleton, Calif., whose duties were being turned over to the Army.

Lt. Col. Gary Holmquist, 44, of Bemidji, Minn., the unit’s commander, said its mission--mainly mine-clearing and road construction--was done. He said Army engineer units would pick up the mine-clearing where his battalion left off.

“I’m excited right now,” said Pfc. Todd Boodt, 19, of Kalamazoo, Mich., a member of the battalion who had been in Somalia for nearly eight weeks.

“This was my first time out in the field and it was a great experience. But it is time to go home and we’re all ready,” Boodt said.

Nearly 1,000 combat Marines returned to Camp Pendleton last month in the first major withdrawal of American forces since they arrived Dec. 9 to secure relief food shipments from bandits and looters.

Marine spokesman Col. Fred Peck said the service people being sent home this week have completed their missions and are no longer needed. “The reductions primarily affect headquarters, logistics and combat support units of the Army and Marine Corps,” he said.

There are still 24,361 U.S. troops in Somalia.

Marine Lt. Gen. Robert B. Johnston, commander of the U.S.-led military coalition, said the withdrawal had no connection with the anticipated turnover of military control to a U.N. peacekeeping force.

After such a turnover, only about 3,000 American troops would remain as part of a U.N. peacekeeping force.

Johnston said in an interview he is hopeful that the U.N. Security Council will adopt a resolution in the next 10 days to assume military control. The general commands not only American troops in Somalia but another 13,000 from 21 other countries.

The group of Somalis meeting Monday, the so-called Ad Hoc Committee, was to try to set an agenda and determine who should participate in the full peace conference that the United Nations hopes to sponsor later this month.