SOMALI VILLAGERS UNDER AIR ATTACK

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30367, 17 February 1964, Page 11

SOMALI VILLAGERS UNDER AIR ATTACK

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) ROME, February 15. The Somali Embassy in Rome claimed today that I|7 Soijiali civilians had been killed and many wounded in new Ethiopian air attacks. The Ambassador, Mohamed Hassan, told a news conference that Ethiopian planes attacked 12 villages yesterday in the disputed border region.

Mr Hassan »*td 5W9 Somalis were left homeless and bad to be evacuated from the frontier area. The Ambassador’s statement came as word reached the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa that Somalia had agreed to a cease-fire beginning at noon tomorrow. Military spokesmen in Addis Ababa said there had been no fighting along the border since last night. Emperor Haile Selassie said Ethiopian troops were under orders not to fire unless fired upon. Soviet Equipment Somalia claims sections of frontier territory in the two countries on the grounds the inhabitants are mainly Somalis. Fighting began on February 7 between Somali and

Ethiopian forces at the village of Tog Wajali. Mr Hassan said Soviet military equipment Somalia has accepted from the Soviet Union had not yet arrived. His Government had no intention of allowing the Russians to set up military bases on Somali territory, he added. Reports in Mogadiscio, Somalia, today said Ethiopian planes bombed and strafed Galcaio yesterday, killing two people and injuring 16. Galcaio is about 90 miles from the Somali-Ethiopian frontier where most of the recent fighting has taken place. African Foreign Ministers are reported to have called for a cease-fire, in a message received in Mogadiscio from Dar-Es-Salaam. The Foreign Ministers are said to have nominated a special commission composed of two Somalis,

two Ethiopians, and two neutral observers to supervise the cease-fire and investigate the dispute. President Aden Abdullah Osman of Somalia, addressing the nation on the occasion of the end of Ramadan, said: “We will defend Somalia with our teeth and our fingernails If Ethiopia or anybody else invades our sacred soil. Somalia does not want armed conflict with its neighbours, but we cannot be called responsible for the actions of Somalis outside of the Republic against Governments which oppress them.”