Rome ANSA in English 1544 GMT

Milan (ANSA) The situation in the horn of Africa is “explosive,” but the west is not aware of it, despite the “mortal threat” that the whole zone will fall under Soviet control, Somali President Siad Barre said here today in an interview published by the Milanese daily, CORRIERE DELLA SERA.

In other points, Barre, who granted the interview while on a just-concluded private visit to Italy, said that Somalia is ready to settle its disputes with Ethiopia, provided its defense needs are satisfied. Published with the title, “Somalia Asks the West for Help so as not to Fall into Soviet Hands,” the interview claimed that Somalia is continually bombarded by Ethiopian planes flown by Soviet and Cuban pilots without having any adequate defenses.

At the same time, the country is housing about two and a half million refugees from Ogaden, the territory disputed by Ethiopia and Somalia, forming an “unbearable burden” for Somali finances, Barre said.

On the Middle East and the Camp David agreements of September 1978, Barre voiced his support for the creation of a Palestinian homeland, for the agreements themselves, and for the recent eight-point peace plan advanced by Saudi Arabia’s Prince Fahd.

According to the Somali leader, the Soviet Union’s interest is to “keep the Palestinian problem open,” because it is staking its money on “destabilization and confusion everywhere.”

“Now (Moscow) has understood that its man in Africa is (Libyan leader Mu’ammar al-Qadhdhafi), because he creates confusion and instability everywhere,” Barre asserted.

Barre was also pessimistic about the general future of the Middle East and Africa. “I see (the future) as very dark until the West decides to play a more active role in seeking solutions and coming down with decision on the side of its friends,” he said.

He added that the Arab summit in Fes last November “failed for this reason as well. The West’s friends, who were ready to approve the Fahd plan, were certainly in a majority, but the others, with the Soviet Union behind them, shouted louder and so the summit was not held.”

“Much the same thing happens at all the African conferences,” Barre claimed. “The three or four governments used by Moscow as tools make more fuss so the world ends up by getting a false idea of Africa’s problems.”

The result, so Barre claimed, is that the other African governments “feel insecure, get a false idea of the West, and knuckle under to the pressures of those who fish in dirty waters.”

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