FIRST U.S. TROOPS START HOME TODAY

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, January 19, 1993                   TAG: 9301190123
SECTION: NATL/INTL                    PAGE: B/4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune
DATELINE: MOGADISHU, SOMALIA                                LENGTH: Short
FIRST U.S. TROOPS START HOME TODAY
In a campaign to pressure the United Nations into assuming military control in Somalia, U.S. officials are hyping the departure of the first contingent of U.S. Marines scheduled for today and are rushing to pack large quantities of military supplies and other equipment.
"This is being done with the obvious intention of sending a message to the U.N.," said a senior military official. "They told us: `Play it up. Play it up. The Americans are starting to leave. . . We want people to take notice."'
U.S. officials announced Sunday that the 3rd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, which arrived in Somalia on Dec. 21, would return to Camp Pendleton, Calif., over three days beginning today.
On Sunday, Marine Col. Fred Peck, the chief U.S. spokesman in Mogadishu, said the turnover to U.N. forces was only "a couple of weeks away" in most parts of Somalia.
But Monday, the chief U.N. officer in Somalia, Ismat Kittani, said in New York: "It's not up to Col. Peck. . . . It is being discussed here. The Security Council has to decide when the hand-over takes place."
U.S. officials accuse U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali of slowing preparations for transferring control from the United States to the United Nations.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB