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

DATE: TUESDAY, February 8, 1994                   TAG: 9402080115
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MOGADISHU, SOMALIA                                LENGTH: Short

U.S. DEPUTY COMMANDER LEAVES U.N. SOMALIA FORCE

Unceremoniously doffing his blue beret, the American deputy commander of U.N. forces in Somalia left his post Monday, marking an end to direct U.S. involvement in the U.N. peacekeeping mission.

It was a humanitarian mission credited with saving more than 100,000 Somalis from dying of hunger. But clashes between U.N. troops and faction fighters left 33 Americans, as well as hundreds of Somalis, dead - including many noncombatants.

President Clinton ordered the withdrawal of all U.S. forces from the Horn of Africa nation by March 31 after 18 Americans were killed in a botched raid in October.

"It's time to get out," said Maj. Gen. Thomas Montgomery, who stepped down as U.N. deputy commander but remained as the commander of a diminishing number of U.S. forces.

"If you look at the situation here, you could stay for years and years and years," Montgomery said in an interview. "At some point in time, you've got to stand up and take responsibility, and Somalis will not take responsibility."

About 4,500 U.S. troops remain on the ground in Somalia, down from more than 20,000 a year ago. Their withdrawal will escalate rapidly in the next few weeks.

by CNB