ROANOKE TIMES 

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

DATE: THURSDAY, April 29, 1993                   TAG: 9304290178
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: MARKA, SOMALIA                                LENGTH: Medium

U.S. HANDS OVER SOMALIA COMMAND

To a scratchy rendition of the National Anthem and the wail of a Pakistani bagpipe brigade, the U.S. military operation to end starvation and restore hope in Somalia effectively came to an end Wednesday, as the American forces turned over their last regional command to the United Nations.

The official change of command to a multinational U.N. peacekeeping force that will assume responsibility for the war-ravaged nation's recovery will not take place until Tuesday, at the earliest. That date, still unofficial, was recommended by U.S. and U.N. military commanders on the ground in Somalia.

But, with just 6,650 American troops left in Somalia, most of them logistics specialists who will remain to assist the United Nations, and the final 1,000 U.S. Marine combat troops scheduled to leave for their home bases in Southern California by Friday, U.S. military commanders have left little more than the pomp and ceremony of the formal change of command.

Already, all U.S. combat forces have been withdrawn from duty in every part of Somalia.

And Wednesday's change of command in Merca, a remote Arabian Sea coast town 100 miles south of Mogadishu - from the 1st Battalion, 22nd Regiment, of the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division to the 1st Battalion, Sind Regiment, of the Pakistani army - marked the last piece of U.S.-controlled territory in Somalia handed over to U.N. command.

"There are a few little things marginally at the edges that we'll be taking care of in the next few days," Col. Fred Peck, the Marine spokesman for the U.S.-led operation, told reporters Wednesday. "But come next week, it's just a matter of saluting the new guys and passing the baton." 


 by CNB