MARINE'S TRIAL BEGINS IN SOMALIA

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

DATE: FRIDAY, March 5, 1993                   TAG: 9303050039
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: MOGADISHU, SOMALIA                                LENGTH: Short
MARINE'S TRIAL BEGINS IN SOMALIA
The court-martial of the first American serviceman in Somalia to face a military hearing on charges of using excessive force began Thursday in a hastily slapped-together courtroom where testimony was drowned out by the roar of C-130 transport planes just outside the door.
Marine Gunnery Sgt. Harry Conde, 33, is charged in the shooting and wounding of two Somali teen-agers in early February.
Conde's case does not involve a death, unlike that of another sergeant under investigation in the killing of a 13-year-old boy. It does underscore the difficult choices American soldiers face in Somalia. Their patrols frequently are harassed by teen-agers who pelt them with stones or try to steal their equipment.
The hearing also highlighted the increasing violence in Somalia. Ismat Kittani, the U.N. special envoy in Somalia, said Thursday that the American-led military operation had "barely scratched the surface" of disarming Somalis and the job of restoring order had hardly begun.
- The New York Times

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB