London BBC World Service “Focus on Africa” program (in English) — 1615 GM

The first independent eyewitness reports about Somalia’s security breakdown are beginning to filter out. Since the riots which broke out and led to the shooting of civilians outside a mosque, it’s been clear that the Somali security forces are in deep disarray. There are reports that 10,000 men have defected from the Army in the north and that clan fighting involving Ogadenis had virtually cut off Kismaayo in the south. Journalist Husayn ‘Abd Hassan has just returned from a trip to Somalia. He telexed this report:

[Begin recording]

It’s only when I arrived in Mogadishu last week that I realized the extent of the political and economic crisis in Somalia. While there, I heard people criticizing the government openly without fear. Most of the people told me they didn’t care about the consequences.

Many residents of Mogadishu suspected of undermining the regime have either been detained or killed.

Last week, the Army captured six high ranking military officers in Shallambod, 100 km south of Mogadishu. The officers had managed to escape from their bases 2 weeks earlier to join the newly formed Somali Patriotic Movement in southern Somalia.

All of these officers are held at the notorious Hangesh detention center in Mogadishu. Sources close to Hangesh told me the officers are tortured day and night.

In the case of Colonel Dr Abdul Mageeb, who had a fracture in the right hand, he hasn’t been attended to by doctors up till now and there are growing fears that his right hand could be amputated because of gangrene. The former defense minister, Major General Adan Abdullahi Nur also known as Gabio, is being held in very poor conditions in a place called Adistahusbeer.

Meanwhile, the commander of the 26th sector of the Somali Army in northwestern Somalia has been killed in a landmine explosion in Hargeysa. Seven other officers died along with him.

[End recording]

_{FBIS-AFR-89-163, 24 Aug. 1989, p. 5}