European Voice, 25 april/1 may 1996, vol. 2 num.17 page 32

It's not just mad cows that are causing concern in the Commission, but mad camels too.

The problem was unearthed in Somalia by the Commission's answer to Indiana Jones, Emma Bonino, who you will recall remains the only Commissioner in EU history to have been airlifted on to the deck of a ship at sea during normal working hours.

This time, Bonino was taking a break from being shot at during her recent visit to the wartorn African state when she stumbled across a little local difficulty in the shape of an epidemic which has already wiped out hundreds of camels.

Officialdom in the region has not been able to produce adequate scientific research into the disease and its possible causes, but Bonino has promised on behalf of the EU to do her best to help.

There is no truth, by the way, in reports that Franz Fischler has said he would be perfectly happy to eat Somalian camel if he was ever on a visit to that land.