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- THE WEEK, Page 11WORLDOn the Road to Bardera and Points East
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- International forces move into southern Somalia's supply centers
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- Running two weeks ahead of schedule by their own reckoning,
- U.S.-led forces in Somalia began moving into the final four of
- the eight towns where distribution of food and supplies will be
- centered. From secure bases in those towns, military patrols and
- relief workers will fan out to feed the starving in the southern
- Somalian countryside. On the road to one of the centers,
- Bardera, a land mine caused the first American casualties: a
- civilian Army employee was killed, and three State Department
- security personnel were wounded.
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- U.S. commanders said their troops were moving faster than
- expected because there had been no opposition from Somali clan
- militias and armed gangs. Under an agreement with clan leaders,
- their heavy weapons -- trucks and jeeps mounted with cannon and
- machine guns -- are withdrawing from towns the multinational
- force controls.
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- George Bush, who will visit the troops in Somalia over the
- New Year holiday, still hopes to begin pulling U.S. soldiers
- out soon, but U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali is
- resisting. In a report to the Security Council last week, he
- said he was not convinced the force had created the necessary
- "secure environment" for aid operations.
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