Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: 2,000 Somalis jam battered freighter, land safe in Yemen Date: Thu, 19 Nov 92 15:23:03 EST Message-ID: \SE A;WORLD \SS (WS) \HD 2,000 Somalis jam battered freighter, land safe in Yemen \BY Neil MacFarquhar \CR ASSOCIATED PRESS \DT ADEN, Yemen ADEN, Yemen - Desperate Somalian refugees drank sea water in the last days of a harrowing two weeks spent crammed into the holds and on the deck of a decrepit freighter that steamed into Aden's harbor yesterday. "For three days we had no water, no food, no hope. We were in so much danger we were sure we would die," said Safiya Mohammed Ali, 25. Somehow, everyone survived, but about 300 of the 2,000 passengers were ill from exposure and disease, refugees said. Three women gave birth. Those with private stocks of water sold it at $20 for five quarts, refugees said. Some people going mad with thirst guzzled sea water. A French warship delivered food and water to the 1,600-ton Samaa-1 after it reached the coast of Yemen on Monday. "If the French had been, say, four hours later, there would have been dead people on board," Mrs. Ali said. The refugees said they are the lucky Somalis. Only former bureaucrats and small-business men could afford the $100 per passenger. An estimated 2 million face starvation in Somalia. Yemeni authorities have agreed to take in the Somalis as long as the United Nations cares for them. The refugees swarmed aboard the ship two weeks ago when the vessel was anchored at Merka, south of Mogadishu, Somalia's capital. The ship sailed five days later, on Nov. 11. The Pakistani captain, Nisar Ahmed, said the shortage of food and water was the fault of a Somalian warlord, Abdul Wahab Haji Mohammed, who chartered the vessel to make money from the refugees, and not that of the Dubai-based owners, Samaa Asia Shipping. The captain said he warned the passengers from the outset about the insufficient stocks of food and water, but they were in a frenzy to leave. "It was jungle law. There are a lot of people going around with guns, and if they are telling you to leave what can you do?" he said. As the ship entered the harbor, signs in English and Arabic hung over the sides, begging for relief from figures as distant as U.S. President-elect Bill Clinton. "Please help us," read a crudely lettered sign on the prow. At the stern, messages thanked the French navy. "We have hope for the best because of Clinton," another sign read. Mr. Clinton said he might support sending additional U.N. peacekeeping troops to Somalia. The Somalis flooded down the gangplank, keeping medical workers of the French organization Doctors Without Borders from getting aboard. The medical team and U.N. workers moved their equipment to a temporary camp that will house the refugees the next few days. Port police wearing rubber gloves helped the refugees onto trucks for the drive to the beach tent camp, where their health will be checked before they are allowed into one of the refugee camps housing about 62,000 Somalis. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM