London BBC World Service “Focus on Africa” program (in English) — 1615 GMT

Those OAU members who also belong to the Arab League have found themselves torn by the Gulf crisis. The OAU has condemned the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, but the event has provoked quite different passions in countries like Mauritania, Somalia, and Sudan. In all three countries, there have been demonstrations against American military moves to defend Saudi Arabia, while in Mogadishu, there has now been a bomb explosion outside the Iraqi Embassy with the claim that it is the work of sympathizers of the American action. From Mogadishu, Said Bakar telexed this report:

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The bomb, which was placed at the front gate, partly destroyed the front wall of the embassy and shattered windows. Four people were injured. Fifteen minutes later, another explosive device, which was apparently aimed at the Libyan Embassy, missed its target, but it wrecked the front wall of a nearby building.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but a group which called itself the Voice of Muslims in Somalia handed out leaflets in which it accused the Americans and their proxies of being behind the explosion. The group says the explosions are a prelude to what it called American aggression against both Islamic holy places and the Muslim world.

However, observers said [word indistinct] groups supported Saudi Arabia for the explosion. They see the explosion as a retaliation for Sunday’s (12 Aug) damage inflicted on Saudi airline building by pro-Iraqi demonstrators.

Yesterday was the third successive day that demonstrators have taken to the streets in protest against what they see as American and Western interference in the Gulf crisis. Police have been deployed around the crowd to prevent them from marching to the Saudi Embassy and to other Sandi institutions. At one point, the police were compelled to shoot over the heads of the demonstrators who were waving Iraqi flags and chanting anti-American slogans. One man was accidentally wounded.

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