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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 19, 1980)
Page 2B THE BATTALION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1980 USED GOLD Berbera ac Somalians once again excited by sight of white faces WANTED! Cash paid or will swap for Aggie Ring Diamonds. ^ diamond brokers international, inc. 693-1647 Please, no plated, layered or gold-filled items as their precious metal content is minimal. $cpteinber2 l \ 10 - 5 p.m. 22H (DSC Come bu &ni> reqbter . Oefeojive DrMng * DuSo * AmatVur Raiiojjf ^B>^rtenSing * BilU&rSj ' Baclipackin^^ XDopeS fiiSer Safety ’ CPR. ’ Viicofa.pc Pro&uctionfi for , O&ncercise • Poclurtimbing CU»ci ocompcjfcer Ka.us^Uii ’3 A [ * - C<Cc) Sconce S<\.ilincjl • Practical L • 6ccj. . 'C A-ntS more ^mx *« # #» United Press International BERBERA, Somalia — “Aaddaar, addaar,” cry the ragtag bands of chil dren who push metal hoops around pillars of dust and, like tiny sen tinels, announce the arrival of a white man in this sleepy port city. It has been nearly three years since several thousand Soviet advis ers and experts were expelled from the nearby “Moscow Village,’ so the appearance of a white face once again excites curiosity in Berbera. At the children’s cries, a few women push heads shrouded in gauzy fabric past wooden louvers of their mud brick shops and peer in quiringly. Customers swaying gently in string chairs at the local market, idling away the broiling midday heat chewing the narcotic plant called khat and sipping highly sweetened tea, pause to look over the intruders carefully. “American, American, barks a Somali government official, and sud denly the edge of hostility gives way to giggles and smiles. These days, Americans are wel come in Berbera. In exchange for $40 million in fore ign military sales credits and $5 mil lion in cash, the United States Simplicity inspires this rare beauty, a fifi to be worn a lifetime. Elegant in white or yellow gold. The diamond in your choice of size. In 14K or 18K gold with matching wedding band. See in our store today. Register for FREE .25 carat loose diamond to be given away Saturday September 27, 1980. c Lir(dsey's JEWELERS A one of a kind store! Manor East Mall 779-3616 Freshmen and Sophomores • for Aggieland ’81 All this week Sept. 22-26 Sept. 29-Oct. 3 Oct. 6-10 A-E F-L M-R S-Z YEARBOOK ASSOCIATES, official 1981 Aggieland photographers, have a studio at Suite 140, Culpepper Office Park, off Puryear Street, 9 a. m to 4:30 p.m. Phone: 693-6756. /< <u 3 C V > • PuryearX f Drive > < Q Culpepper jl Office Park * 'S o CO S 4i o Q 3 O 32 Stores Culpepper Plaza Texas Avenue reached agreement in August with the Somalis for the use of naval and air facilities here, and, on a limited basis, in the capital of Mogadishu to the south. The agreement capped months of negotiations to establish military ment has not announced the agree ment with the United States, so most of the 30, (MX) residents of Berbera have only a vague notion that Amer icans, like the Russians before them who built buildings and watched Russian movies at their outdoor In exchange for $40 million in foreign military sales credits and $5 million in cash, the United States reached agreement in August with the Somalis for the use of naval and air facilities here. facilities along the Indian Ocean for the so-called Rapid Deployment Force which the Carter administra tion hopes to use in the event of an emergency in the Middle East. Simi lar agreements have been concluded with Kenya and Oman. Situated on the headwaters of the Bab el Mandeb Strait and the entr ance to the Red Sea, Berbera has become virtually synonymous with “strategic in the parlance of LLS. defense planners. Berbera looks across the straits to Aden, capital of Southern Yemen, where the Soviet Union has naval facilities, including submarine pens. Britain, the colonial power in both Northern Somalia and Southern Ye men before independence, recog nized early that Aden and Berbera were strategically linked, though in the halycon days of gunboat diploma cy it was the plentiful supply of camels in Somalia that gave Berbera its luster. Nowadays it is the 15,000-foot air strip, the longest in Africa, plus the port and fuel facilities which makes Berbera such a valuable bargaining chip to the two superpowers. Curiously, the Somali govern- “kinos, ” will soon be coming to settle here. “We like Americans to come to our country,’ says Ibrahim Huseein Yuusuf, the young-looking prop rietor of a general store. “It’s good for business. ” On a recent afternoon, when the temperature in the current hot sea son crept above 115 degrees, making Berbera’s few tarmac roads as mushy as porridge, Ibrahim managed a brisk trade by fishing from the depths of a deep freezer Coca Colas the consistency of ice. No other shop in Berbera has electricity. “The Americans will buy things, you know,’ Ibrahim says. “We ex pect a lot of new business. They will buy everything. He breaks into a smile and with a flourish takes in his inventory: every thing from cans of popcorn imported from Yemen to American laundry soap. Suleiman Jaman Ismail now runs a local hotel, though he is esteemed by his Berbera friends and neighbors for his worldly experience. Until recent ly he worked as a merchant seaman, and fondly recalls a month of liberty in Los Angeles. Suleiman is the only person in Berbera a visitor met in a day of interviews who speaks En glish. “With the Americans, it will be, ah, so good, ’’ Suleiman says, pursing his lips as if to blow a kiss. “After all, they are coming to help the Somali people. 1 also hope to do some more business. ” A lot of people — most of Berbera, in fact — thinks the United States is “going to import Disneyland to Somalia,” one American official said. "Boy, are they going to be dis appointed. In testimony in Washington, De puty Assistant Secretary of Defense Robert H. Pelletreau told Congress that no U.S. military forces would be stationed in Berbera. He said $1 mil lion would be spent in fiscal 1980 to upgrade its facilities and $10 million the following fiscal year. Estimates vary, but most officials agree that several hundred Amer ican construction workers, either from the U.S. Navy or from private contractors, will be sent here initial ly to improve the facilities left be hind by the evicted Russians, many of them uncompleted. The greatest interest is focused on the airfield, about five miles from the seacoast. The airbase is unused, but is still out of bounds to nonmilitary personnel. Heat waves shimmering off the tarmac against a background of spectacular sandstone mountains is the closest most visitors get to it, despite the new friendship with the Americans. American officials who have in spected the base say the runway built by the Russians is capable of handling most aircraft, even B-52 strategic bombers. But the facility lacks apron parking, underground fuel tanks, even runway lights. The control tower is a tiny wooden shack and communications is limited to an ancient Russian radio capable only of M orse code. The port is equally unimpressive. pChinese tex yntry over tli bxtile impoi i about 46 p unilateral! |tes. China n lier of tex Sited States, a fa | United Prc J WASHNGTC B)f four new I ■ i , .Rements, Pr A concrete jetty hasbertlija; stab , ishin , medium-sized ships, alreai L between p crowded with boats tra„ :hina -« is at , ast camels to Saudi Arabia and n-M; ing food aid for Sonialia’shurJUnder one thousands of refugees. Red Wedne: Two giant Russian-built *p ese Vice Pi have broken down andlieru; |untnes agree the quayside. The AmericanshopetouH 1 >u n ke r ing f acilities built by ij sums adjacent to the com port. They consist of 18gisl tanks and the foundations til more, flic tanks are believedtJ corroded, so they will havetj overhauled before usebyAi# ships. After the Russians were e in November 1977, whenthei gave military aid to Ethiopiai| Ogaden war, Somalis movedg Russians’ homes and officesc_ ^ t .|p complex known as MoscowVa|jjQygTON A modern military hospital. <• * abandoned and empty in Ae®^ tate tbe °f a Elation was Current plans, accordingtobL] t sbo p \ ican officials, call for station diseov “caretaker force" of between SR t>( j case p 200 men to keep the facikU j n x exas t readiness for the arrival o(liRj ate j so j a jj c forces in the event of an emei0|ji et § bo p a But even the caretakersmim, g housing and other comforts <S ouston b j r are clearly not available in Be,iM p ets t ]j e , “We have to be complete erve them by r contained, said one AmenBwcastle tas “W e re going to have tobringil collect, l cry thing, down to our ownSen Warlick paper |Slu: identifk Four American ships alreai ' et f ann ^ nc - a called at Berbera this year ® were entertained with beach[»® and cold beer, something ofi® t ure in this Moslem country I t he broad masses of Soe I stand ready to welcome our .to | ican guests with the hospitalityf masses, the district commissi of Berbera said in an interview know they are coming, I know how many, when or wit |f gQ^gjjrp -52 bombe DESERVES ANOTHER! TELL YOUR FRIENDS TO VOTE FOR BRAZOS COUNTY ATTORNEY John M. Barron, Jr. (A&fM CLASS OF '71) * * * * * * * * * Deaf prof sues Rice for reinstatement i Wednesday parachute o Sgt. Char Friday, sper [He suffered } Barksdale [appeared \\ ohnson exp eel the plai Johnson s (Pol. Ad Paid by John M. Barron, Jr., Box 4145, Bryan, Texa* 778011 United Press International HOUSTON — A former assistant physics professor has sued Hi University for reinstatement with seniority and $40,000 backpai charging the institution denied him advancement and tenure betauJ |/hat seeme he is deaf. “I didn’t Dr. Ralph F. Guertin’s lawsuit was tried this week in the courti eemedtob U.S. District Judge Gabrielle McDonald. The judge’s decision* ;unner woi pending and is not expected before November. Guertin’s lawsuit was filed in 1976 under a law prohibitingdiscri® nation against qualified physically handicapped persons participali! in federal programs. Although Rice is a private institution, Guertin’s lawyer, Dri Lopez, said he was participating in a program funded by the old Atom! Energy Commission when his work contract was terminated in Career roads lead to AUSTIN 7S., ere were “At that t (aid. “I dec The Fore rew intero ohnson sai control the Tn the B be in it at £ Duchene situation, o bout the ii ven befor< The temj 2 degrees al a rural con bntil he rea ome const Johnson ensations ■ He said he ipot, “worn ; ort of stuf Johnson vent down dale with ately for Jc A Looking for a career after graduation? Then beat a path to the state capitol of TEXAS and Data General! Small town ambience combined with state capitol sophistication makes Austin an ideal locale for business and growth. Residents enjoy clean air, moderate climate, and one of the lowest costs of living in the country. Located near Texas’ Hill Country, recreational areas are plentiful, and the Gulf of Mexico is only 3 hours away. 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