Radio of the Somali National Movement — 1600 GMT

Mohamed Aideed, the chairman of the United Somali Congress (USC), has made a statement on the subject of the Cairo meeting.

It will never be possible for the opposition groups who believe in the armed struggle to sit at a roundtable with the current regime still existing in Mogadishu, which is now collapsing. It would be impossible for any self-respecting person.

This is the position of the USC on the meeting which is said to be taking place in Cairo. The USC has decided never to hold any talks with the Mogadishu regime. This is the stand it shares with the other real Somali opposition organizations, including the Somali National Movement. Any result would be meaningless.

The ones who attend the talks cannot represent the Somali nation in name. He went on to say that we clarify that those who broadcast on the BBC about wishing to attend the meeting, always expressing sorrow, are not members of the USC. They are henchmen of the Mogadishu regime and serve it.

[End recording]

_{FBIS-AFR-90-240, 13 Dec. 1990, p. 4}