The New York Times

August 23, 1980

U.S. AND SOMALIA SIGN ARMS ACCORD

State Department officials said today that in return for credits to buy American arms Somalia had promised that its forces would not intervene again to support ethnic Somali dissidents in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia.

The officials denied that the United States, by signing an agreement that will give American forces access to military facilities in Somalia, had foreclosed the possibility of an eventual restoration of friendly relations with Ethiopia's revolutionary military

Government.

A high-ranking official said: ''The Somalis have told us they will avoid the Ogaden with their regular forces and have given us very explicit assurances that they will not use American military equipment outside their own territory.''

He added: ''It would be contrary to the letter and spirit of the assurances the Somalis have given us if they used arms we provided in the Ogaden.'' The Ogaden region, in eastern Ethiopia, is largely populated by ethnic Somalis and has long been disputed by the

two countries.

Talks Were Halted in 1977

The United States halted talks about arms credits with the Mogadishu Government in 1977 after Somali regulars invaded Ogaden in support of ethnic Somali guerrillas who were trying to wrest control of the region from the Ethiopian Army.

In March 1978, with the help of thousands of Cuban soldiers and two Soviet generals, the Ethiopians drove the Somalis back across the border.

State Department officials said that the agreement with Somalia, coupled with recent similar accords with Kenya and Oman and arrangements for more limited use by American forces of port facilities in Djibouti, would help achieve President Carter's goal of enhanced security for the region.

Ethiopia has charged, however, that the augmented facilities for American forces represent a threat to its security and that of the area. It recently requested the withdrawal of the United States Ambassador in Addis Ababa, Frederic L. Chapin.

American forces will have access to airfields and port facilities at Mogadishu in the Indian Ocean, at Berbera in the Gulf of Aden and possibly other locations, officials said. Somalia will receive at least $151 million in military, economic and refugee assistance over a two-year period.