7 ON HILL PANEL TELL MUSKIE THEY OPPOSE SOMALIA AID

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00561R000100060027-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2012
• Sequence Number: 27
• Publication Date: August 30, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part- Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/24: CIA-RDP91-00561R000100060027-6
ARTICLE .??EARED
ON PAGE A5-
THE WASHINGTON POST
30 AuFust, 1980
? , By George C. Wilson ?
_ Watt:wea Poat Staff Wrtta;
The Carter-administration's plan to
,
.!sell Somalia- US. arms in exchange
: .for-husing !Somali, ports :will . end up
causing more?Irouble than it's worth,.
, .
the House_Poreign Affairs subcornmit--
-
fee' on -.Africa _has told Secretary of
. . .
State Edmund S. Muskie.
Seven of the subcommittee's eight
? members said in their letter that the.
.1$20 million in fiscal 1980 funds the ad-
ministration wants to transfer from.
?iother accounts to start the arms flow,
? should not be shifted_ -- ?'
? ' -The Foreign Affairs subcommittee i
' 'does not hare the authority to stop:
the reprogramming; the- congressional
-appropriations- committees dd. They
"have-not yet -aCted.,--,
Becausestrhere are new base.
- _
agreementi--.with7ltenya and Oman,
and ones in, negotiation with Egypt,
-the subcommittee wrote Mtiskle, use
Of the...Somali ports of Berbera and
Mogadishu "would appear tO add little
tg our regional Military capabilities." ?
7..-Once the United States establishes
a-military:'presence in Somalia, the
':subcommittee said In the _letter sent '
- to Muskie'Thursday, the Soviet Union
?
may press Ethiopia for comparable fa-
ditties in that country. _
Other .dangers of 11.S. 1:^'-s
to:Somalia?,- the subcommittee- wrote, -;
'include exacerbation; of.- the ,Somali--t
Ethiopian conflict oyer Ethiopia's- -
;,...Ogaden; involvem eat in . a
estranger/fent of' the
the
:plaited States ,`f_rOm the economically-,i,
- and. .miitaly'imp?ant-
African
states. who .oVerwhelmingly-!!
,,-'?opPose. :Somalia's efforts in the Oga4
.*, ? ,-.141
4.$,..44 ? 456:-%-ra. ? .o-1_,M.4)"
? Only .Rep. John Buchanan (1241a.)
did-not -sign the letter..
? , -
Somalia has been fighting since
1974 'to annex Ethiopia's Ogaden dis-
trict. ;- ? ?' !;::'??',.
Although the State Department in-
sists-Somalia has given up on the idea
off,a military takeover and no longer
-has a significant body of troops in the
Ogaden; the Central Intelligence
Agency told the subcommittee this
week that elements of three Somali
-battalions, plus up to 1,000 Somali reg
--
niers serving with insurgents, still ap-
pear to be in toe Ogaden.
"Despite its written and verbal as-
surances to the contrary," the.subcom-
mittee :?wrote -;Muskie, "Somalia- re-
mains deeply and intimately involved
in the-armed struggle which continues
to rage in the Ethiopian Ogaden." '
If the United States- established a
militaey_presence in _Somalia and the
- ?
long conflict with Ethiopian heats up,
the subcommitteereasoned American
, . ,
leaders would be faced with abandon-
ing its new- friend or becoming in-
volved in regional warfare. .
-:"Gf.ven Somalia's contiued military
action.in. the Ogaden, and the risks
posed to the United States from esca-
lation, the, subcommittee said the ad-
ministrations plan to reprogram *20
million, should not go forward.
, ?. Chairman Stephen. J. Solarz ,(D-,
. N.Y.) said if State ignores the subcom-
, rnittee he will move to change ,the law
to make such objections binding. ?
,
;-. -The- House and Senate. Appropria-
:?lions committees, under the 1979 law
covering foreign military sales, can
? stop sucir a reprogramming request at
. the. 20 . million .:for . Somalia. Each
1
myst give its "written prior approval" .
- b-efore the action, can go forward.
The subcommittee, letter leaves the
door open for going along with the re-
programming later if State can pro;
vide better .assuraneeS-.. that :.Somali.
regular. are out of the Ogaden and
will stay out.
Subcommittee .?membeirs: nave said
that Richard M. Moose; assistant secre-'-i
tary of State for African affairs, arid
the CIA. gave conflicting reports earl-
ier this week on the.,extent of the So-
malia military presence in the Ogaden.
State Department spokesman John
Trattner insisted Thursday that there
was no real cuLiel.-t.lce ? oetcveen Lite
State and. CIA reports, but ietusect to
proviae li,,ure.. botarz said i de- ?
wore- mat tile-LLA tigures given tb
the subcommittee in secret were puo-
licly disclosed.; .;
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/24: CIA-RDP91-00561R000100060027-6