Will Food Finally Move?

Was it a breakthrough or just another blind turn? Last week, following more than a month of negotiations, Algerian diplomat Mohammed Sahnoun, the ranking U.N. representative in Somalia, and General Mohammed Farah Aidid, who heads one of two factions that have been locked in fratricidal war, agreed to the establishment of an armed U.N. force to open the port of Mogadishu, where tons of relief supplies have reportedly rotted away on the docks or been dumped into the harbor. U.N. officials said the planned contingent would number about 500 troops and could be deployed within two or three weeks. The U.S. has ( offered to fly the troops to Africa, and announced plans for its own airlift of additional food aid. On Saturday the U.N. began moving food to the interior. Private humanitarian groups applauded the new efforts, but were worried about the arrival of the troops, which British relief administrator Mark Radford warned "could create additional security problems, and that would be disastrous."