DATE=9/4/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=SOMALIA / PRESIDENT (L-O)
NUMBER=2-266131
BYLINE=LISA BRYANT
DATELINE=CAIRO
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Following an address to the Arab League in
Cairo, Somalia's new president is on his way to New
York City, where he is expected to ask for U-N
assistance in rebuilding his war-shattered country.
Lisa Bryant interviewed President Abdulkassim Salat
Hassan in Cairo, after his speech to Arab leaders.
TEXT: President Salat acknowledges that he faces a
formidable task in rebuilding Somalia. The first
steps, he said, will be to choose a prime minister and
to form a government. The president's priorities also
include rebuilding the country's dilapidated
infrastructure, and - perhaps most formidable of all -
- disarming and retraining Somali militia, who have
controlled the country during the past decade.
Somalia's parliament-in-exile elected Mr. Salat
president last month, but four warlords have called
Mr. Salat's election illegitimate. The president, for
his part, says he has the backing of the Somali
people.
/// SALAT ACT ///
Now, it is up to the Somali people to
decide, not the warlords anymore. The
warlords destroyed the country and the
Somali people. The warlords killed
barbarically, those who came to help
Somalia. I mean in this sense, the American
servicemen, the Europeans and the
Pakistanis who were killed in Somalia.
/// END ACT ///
Since gaining independence from Britain in 1960,
Somalia has been torn apart by political coups and
assassinations, famines, and civil war.
But President Salat says warfare is part of Somalia's
past. He says he wants to assure the world leaders
who are gathering at the United Nations this week that
his government is open to opposition parties and that
he hopes to have general elections in three-years.
/// SALAT ACT ///
That message will be, in short, that
Somalia has come out of its coma for 10
years. Now, it is part of the world
community. It will work for peace in the
Horn of Africa. It will work for
cooperation in the EGAD. It will work for
friendship among the peoples.
/// END ACT ///
President Salat also plans to ask for financial and
technical assistance when he meets with Western
officials in New York. President Salat says it is his
hope that Somalia will prove to be a model for other
turbulent areas in east Africa.
/// SALAT ACT ///
I may say, like Martin Luther King said, I
have a dream. That dream is to see the
Horn of Africa in peace, in development.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Salat says that African countries worked together
to help end Somalia's civil war. He says bringing
peace to Somalia is a victory for the continent - and
something that should bring pride to all Africans.
(SIGNED)
NEB/LB/KL
04-Sep-2000 14:15 PM EDT (04-Sep-2000 1815 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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