London AL-HAYAH (in Arabic) — Report on interview with Abdirahman Sheikh Omar, member of the Somali Islamic Union (Al-Itihaad Al-Islami) Executive Committee, by Yusuf Khazim in Addis Ababa; pages 3-4

A Somali Islamic Union (Al-Itihaad Al-Islami) leader has accused the United States of plundering his country’s natural resources “right in front of the eyes of the starving.” He demanded that all foreign forces withdraw from Somalia.

Abdirahman Sheikh Omar, member of the Union’s Executive Committee, told AL-HAYAH on the eve of the Somali “national accord” conference to be held today in Addis Ababa that his faction will demand the formation of an Islamic government in Somalia, And that it will not participate in a government headed by any of the warlords, including interim President Ali Mahdi Mohamed and Somali National Alliance leader General Mohamed Farah Aidid. In an interview with AL-HAYAH he said that the civil war:

“…has created an enormous feeling of enmity among the factions and tribes. The warlords have differing interests and aims, and reconciling them is a difficult task and requires great efforts. This is why we do not expect the conference to produce important or major results.”

Asked whether the Union would participate in a coalition government headed by a warlord, he said:

“We are demanding the formation of an Islamic government which applies God’s law. We believe that such a government is the only one which can resolve the crisis and eliminate all barriers separating Somalis. We do not make it conditional that we be represented in it. We will not participate in a government headed by any of the warlords. We set the condition that the head of the government adhere to Islamic rule.”

Asked whether the Union’s participation in a conference sponsored by the United Nations means its agreement to the presence of international forces in Somalia, he said:

“Our participation in the conference does not mean that we have abandoned our previous position, which rejects the foreign forces’ intervention in our country. We still believe that these forces do not serve Somalia’s interests. The foreign forces’ presence will be one of the issues to be discussed at the conference. We will present our position to the participants and demand the foreign forces’ withdrawal from the country. This is because the U.S. forces are plundering Somalia’s natural resources right in front of the eyes of starving Somalis and tribal fighting is raging right in front of the eyes of the international forces, but they are interested in nothing except securing the safety of the international organizations.”

“Chaos dominated Mogadishu when I left it, and many areas are still witnessing tribal fighting, but the international forces have not budged. The international forces came and collected the arms from ordinary people and left the other arms in the hands of thieves and the militias. As a result, robbery and attacks on the ordinary people who have been disarmed have increased. And the U.S. forces have killed about 100 Somalis, among them a 13-year-old boy, since they entered the country in December.”

Asked how and when the Americans plundered Somalia’s resources and what resources have been plundered, he said:

“Somalia has several areas rich in natural resources like precious metals and oil. And we have evidence that the Americans have stolen these resources from several locations: The first location is Burr Hakaba mountain near Baidoa, where U.S. companies are prospecting for precious metals and move them in huge sealed containers escorted by a large number of U.S. military vehicles.

“The second location is in the town of Shalaamboot in Lower Shebele area, some 70 km from Mogadishu. Five U.S. companies are moving sand containing precious metals under the protection of U.S. forces.”

“The Americans are controlling the most important seaports and airports in Somalia and can steal whatever they want from the company without any observation. We have no government or authorities, and the people are preoccupied by the tragedies of war and starvation. The Americans are exploiting this situation.”

He revealed that the oil company Conoco has been working:

“…for a long time since the crisis to move oil from three locations in the northeast of the country. They are the Gharwi oilfield, Halhal oilfield in the town of Las Anod in the Sool area, and Loya Addei near the port of Seylac on the Djibouti-Somali border.”

_{^{FBIS-AFR-93-051, 18 Mar. 1993, pp. 3-4}}