Bonino comes under fire during humanitarian trip

Date: 11/04/1996

By Michael Mann

THE European Commission's very own action woman, Emma Bonino, last week found herself caught up in the factional fighting which has torn apart the east African republic of Somalia since 1991.

The Humanitarian Aid Commissioner's convoy was twice forced to stop by gunfire between warring factions as it made its way to and from the airport in the Somalian port town of Kismayo.

Eyewitness reports spoke of at least 80 dead following fierce fighting between rival groups on Thursday and Friday. But Bonino's delegation - in the country to discuss the prospects for aid and reconstruction measures - emerged from the incident unscathed and was able to continue on to Kenya, next stop on a whistle-stop tour of east Africa.

Journalists escorting Bonino on her latest high-profile trip reported that militiamen of Mohammed Said Hersi “Morgan”, who were escorting the convoy, fired into the air after members of a rival faction infiltrated their line and the general himself became involved in a brawl with the leader of the rival group.

On returning to the airport, the EU party found some of it had fallen into the hands of forces supporting rival general Mohammed Farah Aidid and the entrance was blocked.

Only after an exchange of fire, including heavy weapons, was Bonino able to join her Belgian airforce flight to Nairobi.

“Morgan”, a defence minister under former dictator Mohammed Siad Barre, was reported to have told Bonino that Aidid had given deliberate instructions to disturb the EU delegation. Bonino later claimed to have been prevented from entering the part of Somali capital Mogadishu controlled by Aidid because of divisions within his 'government'.

During her 48 hours in Somalia, the Commissioner said she was willing to continue with humanitarian aid and rehabilitation work on an ad hoc basis, but warned that full-scale reconstruction could only take place where there was genuine peace and stability.

As if the excitement of war-torn Somalia was not enough, Bonino then moved on from Kenya to the displaced persons camp in Labone, in a highly volatile area of southern Sudan controlled by the Sudanese People's Liberation Army.

Bonino's officials were anxious to keep the visit to Sudan as quiet as possible, so that delicate negotiations to reopen the air corridor to humanitarian flights would not be undermined. They were also concerned that Bonino, whose aid flight to the region was the first since the Khartoum authorities suspended them in November, should not become a possible target for unpredictable power-brokers in the region.

On her return to the relative security of Kenya, the Commissioner warned that a continuation of the conflict in Sudan could lead to a severe famine, as fighting has so far prevented local peasant farmers from planting their crops for the next harvest.