London BBC World Service “Network Africa” program (in English) — 1705 GMT

[“Network Africa” host Hilton Fyle] Well, Operation Restore Hope is well and truly under way in Somalia. The Americans are in Mogadishu, the capital, [and] the rest of the international force is on its way there and at least for the time being, resistance has been nil. The cause is good. It is to aid millions of Somalis who will certainly die, as many others already have, if food destined for them is not liberated from the warring factions of Mogadishu.

However, one Somali person does not see it that way. He feels that Operation Restore Hope has a hidden agenda. Mohamed Sheik Osman is his name. He is a spokesman for foreign affairs of the Islamic Union of Somalia (Al-Itihaad Al-Islami). Last night in the studio he put his point to me:

[Begin recording]

[Osman] I doubt the scale – the number of 30,000 American marines going to Somalia. I would like to know – I am very concerned and I would like to know what is their agenda.

[Fyle] What do you mean by agenda?

[Osman] When they were coming to Iraq [pauses]…when they were coming to Saudi Arabia, they were were saying that they were going to defend Saudi Arabia, but in the end it came to destruction of Iraq [sentence as heard]. I am very concerned that there is [an] agenda. I am scared that there will be a puppet government formed by the Americans. I am scared that if the Americans, for example, go back [pauses]…after two or three months, Somalis will use whatever they have. The will use the knives to kill each other. We need a remedy to this clan-based warlords fighting each other.

[Fyle] But are you not impressed with the fact that this operation is mandated by the United Nations and controlled by the United Nations, even though the Americans are spearheading (pauses)…heading the force. It is not an American force, mind you, it is an international force. The United Nations is controlling the whole operation. Does that not impress you?

[Osman] The Americans took their initiative and they decided to go into Somalia before they got the solution of the consent of the United Nations. The real forces are the American forces. I do not see that these few troops coming from the Arab countries or whatsoever will do anything. The real initiative came from the United States. These are 30,000 marines coming to Somalia. I believe that they will be in Somalia and, in fact, to our culture, to our ethic and behavior, we are a Muslim country [sentence as heard). And I was reading that the Americans, when they were leaving Philippines, they left behind 23,000 boys and girls without father or we call them in our language, so I…

[Fyle, interrupting] So, the point you are making is that the American soldiers are going to start, you know, imposing their lifestyle on Somalia and change the society and destroy your culture.

[Osman] They will definitely. There will be [pauses]…if they be there for some time, there will be something which is against our Islam, against our culture, against our background. I believe that this is a test. Americans want to test in Somalia what they are going to do in the future in other countries, and we are the victims. Somalia is a vaccination to the problems [sentence as heard]. Americans want to exercise there so that they will have the practice or the practical means to do this in the future in other countries.

[Fyle] So, what you are saying, in fact, is that you suspect the Americans want to use Somalia as a dress rehearsal for future action in Africa. Now, kind of future action would you be talking about? What would they rehearsing for by this operation in Somalia?

[Osman] The Western papers who are writing for the last two months exaggerating that there are Islamic forces in Somalia, Islamic fundamentalism in Somalia [sentence as heard]. That was in the Washington Post International [name as heard], The Herald Tribune. They were talking a lot about Sudan and the government in Sudan, and I am very doubtful that the real intention of this army is not to use for the convoy of food. It is be used for something else either in Somalia or in Sudan or in the other neighboring Muslim country. Somalia is a very vital country. It controls the southern gate of the Red Sea where most of the oil and everything usually pass. So, I believe, I am not saying that I am hundred percent sure, but I still say I am very concerned and I am very doubtful about this operation.

[End recording]

_{FBIS-AFR-92-238, 10 Dec. 1992, p. 9}