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

DATE: THURSDAY, October 7, 1993                   TAG: 9310070288
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

2,000 MORE TO GO TO SOMALIA PRESIDENT SETS 6-MONTH TIME LIMIT

President Clinton has decided to order about 2,000 more U.S. troops to Somalia to try to stabilize the country and has set a deadline of roughly six months for the withdrawal of all American forces, White House officials said Wednesday.

By setting a specific withdrawal date, Clinton hoped to ease congressional pressure to end the Somalia operation immediately. The president also planned to spell out more clearly the precise goals he is setting for the American troops, who have been in Somalia for nine months on a mission that had already been extended and redefined.

"It is essential that we conclude our mission in Somalia but that we do it with firmness and steadiness of purpose," Clinton said Wednesday after two days of policy discussions with his top advisers. "We are anxious to conclude our role there honorably, but we do not want to see a reversion to the absolute chaos and the terrible misery which existed before."

The emerging strategy includes the sort of timetable and defineable, limited goals that the Congress has been demanding. But it also comes with great risks.

If Somalia is not able to run its own affairs and the United Nations is not able to put together an effective force to replace the Americans, a U.S. pullout would almost certainly trigger a reversion to chaos there, a failure for which Clinton could be blamed.

Summing up the mood in the administration, one White House official said: "You do what you can reasonably do to give the Somalis and the United Nations a chance to get on the road to recovery. We know it won't happen tomorrow. But if in a reasonable period it does not happen, at least we will have done what we can do."

U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali appealed Wednesday to the United States and other countries with troops in Somalia to keep them there despite recent losses. At the same time Boutros-Ghali announced plans for a stepped-up drive to promote political reconciliation.

Clinton will brief Congress today on his new strategy and then will outline it for the nation in some kind of public appearance.

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