SOURCE: Gulf News Agency (Gulf News Agency) 0945 gmt 8 May 79; Text of dispatch datelined Kuwait, 8th May:
 

Umar Arteh Ghalib, Somali Minister to the Presidency and adviser to President Muhammad Siyad Barreh, has expressed his
country's hope that the Arab countries will understand the Somali attitude towards the current Arab situation.

In a statement to the Kuwait newspaper 'As-Siyasah' today, the Somali official refused to disclose the content of the Somali
President's recent messages to the region's leaders. However he stressed that the messages dealt with the current situation in
the Arab world and Africa and with bilateral relations. He denied that these messages contained a call to convene a summit
conference of the Red Sea littoral countries to discuss security. He stressed that current conditions were not appropriate for
such a call, and that the atmosphere in the Arab world was not ready for it.

In reply to a question as to whether his country wished to play a particular role in relieving the tension between Egypt and the
Arab countries, the Somali official said that no one had asked his country to play such a role. He expressed the hope that the
Arab ranks would be reunified, because unity would be a source of strength.

On the situation in Western Somalia - the Ogaden - the Somali official stressed that Western Somalia was part of his country,
and that the question was not one of borders. He said that his country demanded self-determination for the Ogaden.

The Somali official said that his country was offering only moral support to the Ogaden revolutionaries, because recent
developments and social and economic pressures had forced Somalia to withdraw its regular forces which were helping the
revolutionaries. However he stressed that the war was continuing between the revolutionaries and the Ethiopian colonizers, who were supported by mercenaries from Cuba and experts from the Soviet Union. He revealed that the decision to withdraw the Somali military units from Western Somalia in 1977 was a Somali decision, taken as a result of demands by certain fraternal
countries and major powers that it should not intervene directly in the battles there.

The Somali official stressed that the military situation in the Ogaden is moving in favour of the revolutionaries. He said that two
weeks ago he had learned that in one battle the revolutionaries had annihilated a complete Ethiopian brigade, including 93
Cuban mercenaries and a number of Soviet experts. This was proof of the determination of the revolutionaries there to continue
the struggle, and demonstrated that the enemy was sustaining heavy losses.

Gulf News Agency
______________________________________________________________________