Baghdad Republic of Iraq Radio Network (in Arabic) 1900 GMT

The National Assembly has appealed to Arab and friendly parliaments to denounce the U.S. intervention in Somalia and to demand the departure of foreign troops from its territory. In a statement issued today regarding UN Security Council Resolution No. 794 on dispatching troops to Somalia, the assembly said that observing events and news, the world has realized that the UN troops are in fact U.S. troops who entered Somalia as occupiers in the name of international legitimacy.

With a force totaling 30,000 troops with their military equipment and weapons, this in effect means a U.S. occupation and domination of this part of the world. This would enable the United States to control the Horn of Africa, which overlooks entrances to the Red Sea and its extensions toward the Indian Ocean.

The statement asks why the United States does not show the same zeal toward the bloody events and ferocious fighting in Bosnia- Hercegovina, the suffering of Muslims there, and the starvation, displacement, and mass deportation of thousands to neighboring countries.

The statement says that the National Assembly has followed the serious developments that have been experienced by fraternal Somalia and its people, especially since Iraq extended to Somalia huge economic aid during the seventies and eighties, inspired by a spirit of cooperation and solidarity among peoples and countries, especially the developing ones.

The statement says that proceeding from the same humanitarian basis and a sense of international responsibility, and despite the suffering of its people, Iraq recently proposed to the UN Security Council that if it lifts the siege, it would agree to export a quantity of oil worth $4 billion, part of which would be used to aid the Somali and other peoples.

The statement adds that the National Assembly would like to draw the attention of Arab and friendly parliaments to these facts and to ask them to denounce this step, which will increase the suffering of the Somali people, deepen disarray and divisions, and bring foreign U.S. troops to its territory to achieve U.S. interests and objectives in this vital and strategic part of the Horn of Africa.

The Assembly also appealed to Arab parliaments to demand the departure of these troops from Somalia soon and to leave the Somalis to reach by themselves national solutions to their problems and to adhere to their national unity to reach a national reconciliation that would help them achieve peace and stability and move toward building their country and end the suffering of their people away from any foreign interference or influence.

_{FBIS-NES-92-244, 18 Dec. 1992, p. 15}