SOMEWHERE SOUTH OF SUEZ

A Novel

By

Gene C. McCoy

BOOK TWO

CHAPTER 8

Liliana was the wife of Carlo Brancuzi, an Italian civil servant who had been detailed by Rome to work in the Somali Ministry of Justice to codify the Somali legal codes. Carlo's work demanded frequent travel between Rome and Mogadishu, and Liliana was often left alone in Mogadishu under circumstances that were lonely, difficult and trying. There was no television, no radio, other than short wave in the early morning and late night, no movies, and only two restaurants, but Liliana was not a woman to sit at home and complain. In Rome she had been an English language teacher in a private academy for wealthy children. When she arrived in Mogadishu she set about looking for work, and the natural place for a language teacher to look for gainful employment was in the many diplomatic missions and aid giving international organizations that were located in Mogadishu.

Ambassador Dan Thornton first met Liliana at a cocktail party at the Italian Ambassador's residence just after she arrived in Mogadishu. He was very much taken with her enthusiasm and vitality. When she told Dan that she wanted to work as an Italian or English language instructor he asked her to come by the American Embassy where, he had told her jokingly, "I have a little bit of influence."

"Oh, what do you do there?" she asked.

"I'm the ambassador," he said and smiled.

Liliana blushed and put her hand to her face. "I'm sorry, Mr. Ambassador, I didn't know. You see we just arrived in Mogadishu," she said.

Dan was touched by her innocence. While Liliana was charming and gracious she did not have that jaded sophistication of the women one frequently meets at diplomatic receptions. She was spontaneous and undefended, and she radiated a curiosity and enthusiasm about life that was fresh, infectious and very appealing. "Please, skip the Mr.Ambassador, Liliana," Dan said. "Just call me Dan, or if that's too informal for your Italian sense of good manners and formality, you can call me Mr. Thornton."

She smiled showing a row of straight white teeth. "I would like to call you Dan. As you can see, I'm not very formal. When can I come by the embassy?"

"Tomorrow morning at nine would be fine," he replied. "I'll introduce you to our Admin Officer who is in charge of the post language training program."

"I'll be there," she said and moved on to circulate through the party.

Dan's wife, Rita, spent a lot of time away from the post too, but it was not because of her work. Rita did not like Mogadishu, and she was angry with Dan for having accepted the appointment as ambassador.

However, Dan had reached the mandatory retirement age of sixty years, and he would have been forced to retire if he were not holding down a Chief of Mission's job. While Rita was ready to ride off into the sunset to tend to her rose garden and have long cocktail hours, Dan was not yet ready to slump into a rocking chair or write his memoirs.

Before coming out to Mogadishu Dan was working in the Military Base Rights Section of the Bureau for Politico-Military Affairs in the State Department in Washington, D.C. He was gradually accepting the idea and getting ready for retirement since it did not look as though he was going to get another shot at an ambassadorial appointment before his birthday. Dan had previously served as the ambassador to a small Caribbean republic, but that ended when he got into a little argument with "Papa Doc," as the head man liked to call himself, over corruption and abuse in the U.S. foreign aid program. The argument turned out to be what many people characterized as a "pissing contest between skunks," and in the end Dan left the country, but not before the aid program was terminated.

As retirement approached Dan put out some feelers to several universities where he hoped to find a job as a lecturer in political science and history, but as luck would have it the Six-Day Arab-Israeli war that closed the Suez Canal came along. The Horn of Africa and the Indian Ocean region took on a new significance in the geopolitical strategy of the United States. Since Dan's area of responsibility had included looking after the base rights agreements for the Indian Ocean facilities located on the islands of Diego Garcia, and Bahrain he was already familiar with the geography, the personalities and the politics of the region.

The Straits of Aden and the Horn of Africa have for centuries been significant in the geopolitical maneuvering by the old European colonial powers, and this importance only increased as Europe and the United States became more dependent upon oil coming out of the Persian Gulf. Whoever controlled the Straits of Aden controlled access to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, and even though the canal was temporarily closed by the war, it was just a matter of time before it would be reopened. It therefor became very important that, while the canal was closed, the United States and the Western powers consolidate their positions in the region, and at the same time try to head off any attempts by the Russians to increase their influence.

It was really this latter area of Russian containment that stimulated Dan. As a junior officer he had served as a Political Officer in Moscow, and his interest in Russian affairs had remained high throughout his career. At the time that he was offered the job as Ambassador to Somalia, the Russians were very active in East Africa and the southern area of the Arabian Peninsula. The British were scheduled to pull out of Aden, and the Russians were already standing in the wings ready to step in and fill the vacuum. Djibouti, on the African side of the Straits, was likewise on the verge of getting its independence from the French, and it was questionable whether General deGaulle could keep the Russians out of there once the colonial umbilical cord had been cut.

Somalia was already under heavy Russian influence. The Russians had a huge military training mission in Mogadishu; they were supplying massive amounts of military hardware, and Somalia had become a very de-stabilizing influence on the Horn due to the running territorial squabble the Somalis had with their neighbors in Kenya and Ethiopia.

The Northern Frontier District of Kenya and the southern Ogaden area of Ethiopia have been for centuries traditional grazing lands for the nomadic Somali tribesmen and the governments of Kenya and Ethiopia were trying to close their borders to the nomads. There were frequent shoot outs on the border between the nomads and the armies of Kenya and Ethiopia,and this generated a lot of internal friction inside Somalia. The hard-liners in Mogadishu, especially in the army under Russian guidance and influence, wanted to roll across the borders to claim and take control of their traditional lands, while the more moderate politicians wanted peaceful negotiations with their neighbors, and the time and resources to promote the economic development of the country.

When the Secretary of State called Dan into his office on the seventh floor of the State Department to ask him if he would like the job as ambassador to Somalia Dan, of course, could not refuse. Even though Mogadishu was a remote and isolated hardship post it presented a stimulating challenge and Dan's thoughts of retirement to a college campus to lecture in political science were forgotten. Somalia was, in the words of the Secretary of State, "a country with special interests to the United States."

Dan's mission in Mogadishu, the Secretary told him, would be to support the moderate Somalis in their efforts toward economic development and peaceful negotiations with Kenya and Ethiopia, and at the same time to try to negotiate a military base rights agreement for access by United States' warships to the deep waterport in the town of Berbera located on the northern shore of the Horn of Africa just South of the Straits of Aden.

Dan breezed through the confirmation hearings before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and two months after his nomination he and Rita were in Mogadishu.

Despite the isolation and hardship, Dan found Mogadishu a more than acceptable post. The couple had a lovely residence overlooking the sea, an excellent household staff that included a cook who had learned his craft in the French Embassy, and who had come over to the Americans for higher pay. Dan played golf and tennis several times a week; they also had a beach hut where Dan kept a small Sunfish sailing skiff that he sailed behind the barrier reef some five hundred meters off shore. He had a lot of time to read and he enjoyed taking long walks along the beach. The officers and staff in the Embassy and USAID Mission were professional and competent, and there was an active social life among the diplomatic and expatriate communities. For Dan's part he could not have asked for a more desireable post to wind up his thirty year diplomatic career even though the work was frustrating.

Dan learned soon after his arrival that the Somalis were difficult to deal with. They were camel traders, and the base rights access agreement was going to be difficult if not impossible to obtain. The Somalis were playing the Russians off against the Americans and vice-versa in a game of cat and mouse that was going nowhere. The moderates didn't want Russian military bases, and the hard-liners wanted no part of an American military presence, so things were stalled and at a standstill. Neither faction had enough political clout to make a decision and admit either the Russians or the Americans. Then, too, there wasa group in the middle who truly wanted to remain neutral in the East-West ideological struggle.

The economic development front was no better. No one could decide what the national priorities were or should be. While health and education were, like any developing country, high on the list of real needs, it was difficult to deliver either of these basic necessities to a population that was almost ninety percent nomads. Agriculture, also a basic sector of need, was almost exclusively in the hands of the old Italian colonials, and was primarily devoted to the production of the banana cash crop. Animal husbandry and improving the quality of the nomad's cattle herds was needed, but once again difficult to deliver to these tribal drifters who not only were hard to track down, they were frequently engaged in open warfare with the armies of Kenya and Ethiopia.

Thus, everything moved at a snail's pace on all fronts. All negotiations were slow and tedious, and Dan soon found himself more involved in dealing with morale issues for the staff, who also had too much time on their hands, than with his diplomatic duties. He counseled officers, wives and secretaries on personal problems whenever he was asked, and he took up some of his time by serving on the boards of directors of the International School, and the Mogadishu Golf and Tennis Club. As his Deputy Chief of Mission put it, Dan would be ideally suited to serve as a "headmaster in a girl's school" when his tour of duty in Mogadishu was over.

Husband's and wives fought, got near the point of divorce,and frequently separated with the wives returning with the children to the States. There was too much drinking, and this only exacerbated the already strained domestic situations. There were frequent medical evacuations for alcoholism, accidents and a wide range of other health problems. Even as the ambassador Dan was not immune to the these problems in his own household.

His wife, Rita, was angry, bitter and bored. She drank too much, and she did not like to mix with the other wives. She did not like the sun nor the beach, so she never went to the Anglo-American Beach Club nor for walks on the beach. She did not play tennis or golf so she never went to the Golf and Tennis Club. She had no artistic tendencies; she did not paint,sculpt or write, so when she was in Mogadishu she spent most of her time in an air conditioned bedroom in bed reading, writing letters, and Dan suspected drinking.

On one occasion she had been drinking in the afternoon, and when Dan came home from the embassy Rita told him she was planning to leave for a trip to Paris after having just returned the week before from a month of touring the game parks in Kenya. Dan reminded her of the quote, that she had insisted on including in their wedding vows, over thirty years earlier, from the Book of Ruth in the Bible that says, "Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God."

Rita lifted herself out of her chair and walked unsteadily to the bar to pour another martini. "I must have been very innocent when I was young," she slurred. "At the time I made that vow I had no idea that thou would ask me to follow thee to this bleak, God forsaken, hell hole - especially when it was not necessary. You volunteered to come out here. I'll bet there is not one person on your staff who volunteered for this duty."

"I didn't volunteer," Dan replied. "I was asked to come ou there."

"Well you could have said no and retired. That's the same as volunteering in my book," she said and took a long swallow of her martini.

Dan had learned long ago that to argue with Rita when she was drinking, was an exercise in futility. On this, and other similar occasions, he simply left her with her drinks and went for a walk on the beach.

In the end, Dan knew, Rita would go to Paris where she had friends dating back to the time that they were assigned in the embassy there. She could visit, shop, gossip, pester the current Admin Officer in the embassy for assistance in arranging sidetrips, airline tickets and whatever else she needed, and go tococktail parties where she would not have to worry about drinking too much, which, as the American Ambassador's wife, she had to do in Mogadishu. In Paris she would still be an American Ambassador's wife, but she would be on vacation from an exotic African post; she would be expected to drink a little too much. She would get all of the privileges and perks without any of the responsibilities.

When Liliana started her Italian language classes in the embassy Dan made arrangements for her to give him some private lessons in his office three times a week, first thing in the morning froms even until eight o'clock. His motive at first was simply to improve his mind, and enhance his diplomatic skills. Many Somalis did not speak English and having the ability to speak Italian was an advantage, but Dan soon began to enjoy these times with Liliana. He came to look forward to that hour more than any other time of the day.

Liliana was vivacious and always bubbling with gossip and tales about what was going on in the Italian, French, and British Embassies as well as the U.N. Mission where she also gave classes. One morning she came into the office overflowing with excitement because her husband had allowed her to buy a little Italian Racing Red Alfa Romeo Sports car with her earnings.

Money, Dan learned, was not that plentiful in the Brancusi household. Even though Liliana had a six year old daughter at home she had always worked in order to help meet the family expenses. Carlo was a middle grade bureaucrat in Rome, and their life there was very plain and simple. But in Mogadishu they were included in all of the diplomatic entertaining done by the Italian Ambassador, and because of Liliana's warm outgoing personality they were almost always included in parties given by other embassies. It was because of the housing allowance, and hardship differential in pay that Carlo had accepted the assignment in Mogadishu, and it was because of this little bit of extra money, plus the duty free import privileges, that she had been able to use the money she earned to buy her car. To ownt his car was a dream come true for her, she said, and something that she never imagined she would have.

Dan and Lilaiana were about two months into his language classes, Carlo was in Rome, and Rita was in Kenya visiting the game parks when Dan asked Liliana if she would be free the next Friday evening to join him and a few others down at his beachhut for sundowners and a light supper. At the time that Dan extended the invitation he felt like a college freshman asking one of the football cheer leaders out for a date. He half expected, or feared, that she would refuse him.

"I would love to join you, Dan. My car is arriving tomorrow and that will give me someplace to go and drive it," she replied with her usual positive, up-beat enthusiasm.

"You won't have any trouble finding a baby sitter? he asked.

"Oh no," she replied. "I have a boyessa who lives in." Then, always the teacher, Liliana went on to explain that "A boyessa is what we Italians here in Mogadishu call what you, in English, call an ayah or nanny. That's one of the advantages that I have living overseas. In Rome I could never afford a live-in servant to care for my daughter, Juliana."

"Most Americans cannot afford servants in the States, either, Liliana," Dan said. "Unfortunately, though, the luxury of having servants frequently works against the wives being happy. They have too much time on their hands, and not enough to do."

"I know," she said. "I hear the American, and many Italian wives, too, complaining all of the time about how bored they are,and I can't understand it. For me living in Mogadishu is an exciting adventure. I love the wild primitive bushmen and the nomads. If I didn't have Juliana I would love to go off and live for a while with the nomads. Don't you think that would be exciting?"

"I don't know," Dan replied. "I've never thought about it. Now that you mention it, though, yes, I think it would be exciting, and if I were twenty or thirty years younger I might do it."

Dan allowed himself to dwell for a few seconds on the fantasy of living in the bush with Liliana and a tribe of wild Somali nomads. "The idea of doing it with you appeals more to me than the thought of doing it alone, though," he said realizing that he was treading beyond the boundaries of their student-teacher relationship.

Even though Liliana had an olive complexion, and, after several months in Somalia, she now had a deep suntan, Dan could see that she blushed. She did not seem to take offense at his remark, however. She coquettishly continued the little flirtation.

"Yes," she said and smiled. "That does sound like more fun doesn't it." Then, returning to business, she opened her copy of the FSI Italian language textbook which she held on her lap."Andiamo con il signore Bianchi i suo amico en la AmbasciataAmericana en Roma?"

"Va bene," Dan replied and opened his textbook to the day'slesson.

Gene McCoy © July 1998

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