Voice of Western Somalia and Abo Liberation Fronts (in Somali) — 0930 GMT

The years 1977-80 were a time when the world was looking at the Horn of Africa with keen interest, and particularly at the western Somalis. This was due to the war being waged by the western Somali liberation forces against the Abyssinian black colonialist soldiers and the interference by foreign forces, led by the Soviet Union.

This comes from a Western Somali Liberation Front (WSLF) information bureau report which was issued yesterday. The report says that the interference by foreign forces had increased the problems in the area and at the same time had threatened the lives of people living near the Red Sea and the Gulf.

After Afghanistan, the Iraq-Iran war and the confused situation in Poland, it can be seen that the Soviet expansionist policy has spread; therefore the issue of the Horn of Africa merits particular consideration.

On 22 April the BBC broadcast a commentary on the western Somali territorial issue and Somalia’s relations with its neighbors, and also on the raising of the western Somali issue at the forthcoming OAU conference to be held in Nairobi in July.

The question, according to the WSLF report, is how this issue of the WSLF is going to be viewed and what groups are going to participate.

The WSLF is of the opinion that no initiatives will succeed if the people concerned are not consulted. The WSLF issue came to light as a result of the genuine armed struggle waged by the western Somali people, who are fighting for self-determination.

The WSLF proposes the following to solve the western Somali issue:

1. That the Mengistu regime recognize the WSLF as the legitimate and sole representative of the western Somali people.
2. That the western Somali people be allowed to run their own affairs without any preconditions and that at the same all foreign forces be withdrawn from western Somali territory.

_{FBIS-MEA-81-083, 30 Apr. 1981, p. R4}