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: Supply plane hit; airlift suspended Date: Mon, 26 Oct 92 14:37:03 EST Message-ID: \SE A;WORLD \SS (WS) \HD Supply plane hit; airlift suspended \BY FROM COMBINED DISPATCHES \DT BAIDOA, Somalia BAIDOA, Somalia - A bullet struck an American plane delivering food to the starving in the central town of Baidoa yesterday, prompting U.S. officials to suspend the airlift. A C-130 Hercules was struck while landing at the airport in Baidoa, 140 miles northwest of the capital, Mogadishu. The U.S. "Provide Relief" task force said in a statement in Kenya that no one was hurt and damage to the aircraft's fuel tank was superficial. Another U.S. aircraft was on the tarmac at the time after unloading 13 tons of food. Both craft then left for the Kenyan port of Mombasa. Further U.S. flights to Baidoa were suspended "pending a review of the security situation there," the statement said. It did not say who fired the shots. The incident marked the second time in six weeks that a U.S. transport plane had been hit by gunfire. On Sept. 18 relief operations to Belet Uen, a south-central town, were suspended after a U.S. plane was struck by gunfire. The United States has been flying up to 20 relief missions a day into northern Kenya and Somalia for the past two months. On Saturday, planes evacuated five U.N. staff members from the southern town of Bardere, 200 miles west of the capital, after gunmen waged a gunfight for 10 tons of relief food, they said. All food deliveries to 40,000 starving people in the southern port of Kismayu stopped Saturday because militiamen fired anti-aircraft guns at two planes operated by the International Committee of the Red Cross. "Red Cross staff said they were saved only by the grace of God," one relief official said. The main movements of civilians are from Bardere eastward toward the coast and from Kismayu north toward Mogadishu, 250 miles away, the U.N. officials said. It is the second time this month that foreign relief workers have had to abandon their work in Bardere, one of the most important food-distribution centers in the south. They first fled about two weeks ago when militiamen led by Mohamed Siad Hersi Morgan drove out the forces of Mogadishu warlord Mohamed Farah Aidid. Two hundred people a day are now dying of starvation in Bardere, compared with 20 two weeks ago. "It's one of the worst situations we have ever seen," said one U.N. official who visited the town. Emaciated bodies litter the dusty streets, he added. Details of the fighting in the south are sketchy, but Gen. Aidid appears to be launching a counterattack. Russian-built T-54 tanks and carloads of ragged young militiamen loyal to Gen. Aidid yesterday sped through Baidoa, heading south. Somalis expect Mr. Morgan's forces to attack Kismayu within days. 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