Soviet snub for Somali leader

Press, 2 September 1977, Page 6

Soviet snub for Somali leader

NZPA-Reuter Cairo The Somali President (Mr Mohamed Siad Barre) has arrived in Cairo from Moscow, to hold talks with President Anwar Sadat where he apparently failed to heal his rift with the Kremlin and received what diplomats called a clear snub. The Somali President was to have stopped in Cairo on Sunday on his way to Moscow, but the visit was postponed without explanation. President Siad’s two-day visit to the Soviet Union apparently failed to resolve his differences with the Kremlin over the conflict in the Horn of Africa. The fighting in the Ogaden Desert between Ethiopian and Somali-backed guerrillas hasi put a severe strain on Mos-

cow’s relations with Mogadishu. and the official Soviet report on President Siad’s stay did nothing to suggest any improvement. The Soviets did not even announce Mr Siad's visit until after he had left. Although the Somali leader is both President and party chief, he was not received by his direct Soviet opposite number, Mr Leonid Brezhnev — an omission which diplomats in Cairo saw as a clear Soviet snub. Diplomatic sources said they believed the visit was at Somali initiative, apparently prompted by a Soviet decision to slow down arms supplies to Somalia. President Siad was once the Kremlin’s closest ally in Africa and his armed forces rely on Soviet weapons.