Somali Chief Boycotts Aid Conference

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somali clan leader Gen. Mohammed Farah Aidid is boycotting an aid conference in Ethiopia until the United Nations releases three of his top aides, his spokesman said Sunday.

U.N. officials in Somalia recommended to the U.N. chief that the aides be released, a U.N. official said.

Aidid’s boycott threatens the meeting’s chance for forging a reconciliation among Somali factions.

A U.N. official, meanwhile, said that U.S. forces have come under small-arms fire in three separate incidents since Saturday. There were no casualties.

It was not clear whether looters or factional fighters did the shooting, but U.S. forces could mount a military operation unless clan elders put an end to the sniper fire, Col. Steve Rausch said.

Aidid will not attend the Ethiopia conference unless the United Nations releases three of his top aides, his spokesman, Abdi Ghabdid, told a rally of Aidid supporters in Mogadishu on Sunday.

The three are suspected in connection with violence and attacks that killed scores of U.N. troops since the June incident.

Ghabdid said that in the place of Aidid, 24 of his representatives would fly to Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital where the conference starts today, to press for the release of Osman Atto and two other Aidid aides. Atto is Aidid’s main financier and has a large following.

U.N. officials have said the men likely will not be released soon.