Damascus Domestic Service (in Arabic) 2015 GMT

Damascus — Abdallah Hassan Mahmud, secretary general of the United Front for the liberation of Western Somalia, has praised the support rendered by the Syrian Arab people, party and leader to the just struggle of the people of western Somalia for the liberation of their lands from Ethiopian colonialism.

In a press conference this evening at the SANA building, Mahmud said: Arab Syria has been supporting the front’s fighters, helping them to liberate their country.

Mahmud spoke about the reasons prompting the Ethiopian regime to continue its occupation of the territories of western Somalia. He said 60 percent of the land has been liberated, and administrative authority has been established over the liberated land.

Mahmud extended his thanks to the Syrian people, party and leader and to the Syrian journalists who are honestly defending the just issues of struggling peoples in various parts of the world.

_{FBIS-MEA-77-133, 12 July 1977, p. H3}