General Pessimistic About Somalia
The departing U.N. commander said Tuesday that the Somalia operation has failed to disarm clans and militias and may never be able to leave this African nation with a lasting peace.
Lt. Gen. Cevik Bir of Turkey also said future U.N. humanitarian efforts will succeed only if nations such as the United States are prepared to place their soldiers under U.N. commanders and keep them deployed even if some are killed during the operation.
“The world must decide the role the United Nations is to play in making this a better world,” Bir said in a letter to U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, copies of which he distributed to reporters.
President Clinton ordered U.S. troops--who spearheaded the operation and remain its linchpin--to leave by March 31 after a clash with Somali militiamen left 18 U.S. soldiers dead.
Boutros-Ghali has urged other countries not to abandon Somalia, but many Western nations have ignored him and begun withdrawing their forces too.
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