In the port of Berbera, for example, hundreds of men of the rival Issak clan were rounded up in May 1988, imprisoned, and then taken out at night in groups of five to 50 men to be executed without any judicial process whatsoever.
The United States already has a large naval base at the Somali port of Berbera on the Gulf of Aden.
"Berbera is peaceful but tense," British diplomats in Mogadishu said in a telex message. "There are no immediate plans for evacuation." The government has not commented on the fighting.
A total of 1,500 troops would go to Bosasso in the south-west and two contingents of 750 each would be based in Berbera and Kismayu.