Word: somali
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...SOMALI MAN, SAYS U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY ROBERT OAKley, three things are important: "his camel, his wife and his weapon. The right to bear arms is in their soul." That is a stereotyped and simplistic view but with an element of truth. In Somalia's nomadic culture, a weapon has always been essential to defend against unknown enemies in the vast desert. Oakley believes that if American soldiers began confiscating weapons, they would quickly become the enemy...
...Somalia, U.S. officials fear their troops could be cast into the same untenable position. U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali has been leading a campaign to turn the humanitarian mission into a more problematic operation to rebuild the Somali nation. Step 1 is disarming a populace so heavily armed that no one can even begin to figure the size of the arsenal. But the Bush Administration remains unwilling to take on a task that could put U.S. troops in the middle, making the Marines the target of anyone who refuses to give...
...Administration officials say they are encouraging disarmament, but not imposing it. But if a political decision were made to collect all the weapons, it would be fairly easy to accomplish. The Somali clans do not have trained soldiers, like the Serb militias in Bosnia. Most of those toting guns here are youths, some not so big as the rifles they carry. They are not fighting for any cause, not for communism or Islam, not for freedom or democracy. They appear mainly interested in spoils. When the Marines landed, they fled, and it is unlikely that they would fight...
Nonetheless, a campaign to disarm Somalis could create hostility. "If we were obliged to go on a house-to-house search -- which we wouldn't do anyway," said Oakley, "the Somalis would see it as rank colonialism." Still some Somali leaders discount a major backlash because, they say, the people are sick and tired of the violence...
...MOST FEARSOME WEAPONS CONFRONTING U.S. MARINES in Somalia are the 480 TOW ANTITANK MISSILES and the 75 81-mm mortars that Washington delivered to the Somali military in the 1980s. To prevent local warlords and brigands from turning the arms against the Americans, the Pentagon has quietly dispatched Special Operations forces to Somalia to track down the weapons and seize them...