United Nations intervention in Somalia
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| Operation Restore Hope | |||||||
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| Part of the Somalian Civil War | |||||||
| Image:Operation restore hope battleplan.png Original plan of battle | |||||||
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| Combatants | |||||||
| Image:Flag of the United States.svg USSOF Image:Flag of the United Nations.svg UNOSOM II | Image:Flag of Somalia.svg Somali militiamen | ||||||
| Commanders | |||||||
| Many | Mohamed Farrah Aidid | ||||||
The United Nations intervention in Somalia (code-named Operation Restore Hope) was a United Nations–sanctioned United States military operation from December 3, 1992 to May 4, 1993. The operation planned to avert a growing humanitarian disaster in the increasingly lawless Republic of Somalia, which was suffering from severe famine, general chaos, and domination by a number of warlords following the collapse of Siad Barre's Marxist government.
After President Clinton was inaugurated in January 1993, in supporting the UN, he decided to reduce the number of US troops, which were to be replaced by UN troops, and to hand over the lead to the UN. By June 1993, only 1,800 US troops remained.
In May 1993, the UN officially took over, while a federalist government based on 18 autonomous regions was agreed upon by the leaders of Somalia's various armed factions. The UN renamed the mission to UNOSOM II.
The objective of UNOSOM II was to initiate nation building in Somalia, disarm the various factions, restore law and order, help the people to set up a representative government, and restore the infrastructure. UNOSOM II had a strength of 28,000 drawn from 26 countries, including the U.S. which operated under the military operation "Operation Continue Hope" from May 2003 to March 2004 when the last U.S. soldiers left the region.
On June 5, 24 Pakistani troops were assassinated by Somalian millitia members while inspecting an arms weapons storage site. Warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid and his followers were convicted of being behind this massacre, and on June 12, US troops started attacking targets in Mogadishu related to Aidid, which lasted until June 16.
On June 19, a $25,000 warrant was issued by US Admiral Howe for information leading to the arrest of Aidid, but he was never captured. He also requested a counter-terrorist rescue force after the killings of the Pakistani troops.
On July 12, a house where clan leaders were meeting was attacked by US AH-1 Cobra helicopters. Several buildings were destroyed and many Somalians died. When four western journalists wanted to investigate the scene, they were beaten to death by a Somalian mob. In the following weeks even more U.S. soldiers were killed and wounded.
On August 8, Task Force Ranger was deployed; composed of Delta and Ranger forces not under UN control and so able to conduct more aggressive operations.
The hunt for Aidid and his lieutenants then began, leading to the Battle of Mogadishu, resulting in - according to U.S. estimates - the death of 500-1000 Somalian millitia and civilians, the death of 18 American soldiers, and 73 were wounded, and the death of one Malaysian soldier. The American Ranger and Delta force were rescued by the 10th Mountain Division, who were partly helped by UN troops, notably those of Malaysia and Pakistan. The book Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War and the movie Black Hawk Down are based on this battle.
President Clinton then decided to withdraw the American forces, which had been sent to Somalia at the end of George H.W. Bush's term. It was a crisis that many observers felt had been handed to Clinton when he assumed office.
[edit] Background
In January 1991, the leader of Somalia, Mohammed Siad Barre, was overthrown by a coalition of opposing clans called the United Somalia Congress. After this revolution the coalition divided into two groups. One was led by Ali Mahdi Muhammad, who became president, and the other by Mohamed Farrah Aidid. In total there were four opposing groups: the United Somali Congress (USC), Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF), Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM), and Somali Democratic Movement (SDM) which continued to fight over the domination of Somalia. In June 1991 a ceasefire was agreed, which these groups however failed to hold. A fifth group; the Somali National Movement (SNM) had already in June secessed the northwest of Somalia as the Somaliland Republic, with the leader of the SNM, Abdel-Rahman Ahmed Ali as president.
In September 1991, severe fighting broke out in Mogadishu, which succeeded in the following months and spread throughout the country with over 20,000 people killed or injured by the end of the year. These wars led to the destruction of the agriculture of Somalia, which led to starvation in large parts of Somalia. The international community began to send food supplies to halt the starvation. However vast amounts of food were hijacked and brought to local clan leaders. The food was routinely exchanged with other countries for weapons by them. An estimated 80% of the food was stolen. These factors led to even more starvation of which an estimated 300,000 people died and another 1.5 million suffering between 1991 and 1992. In July 1992, after a ceasefire between the opposing clan factions, the United Nations (UN) sent 50 military observers to hold sight on the distribution of the food.
In August 1992 the United States (USA) initiated Operation Provide Relief (UNOSOM I) to provide humanitarian relief for the people. Other Western nations also contributed to this airlift and the UN sent some troops to oversee the operation. However most of the food was looted directly on landing of these planes. This made the operation a failure and the UN therefore asked its members for assistance.
In December 1992 as President George H. W. Bush was preparing to leave office, he proposed to help under the restriction that the US Combat troops would lead the operation. After the UN accepted this offer 25,000 US troops (mostly US Marines from I MEF) were deployed to Somalia and the mission was renamed to Operation Restore Hope and became UNOSOM II.
On May 4, 1993 the UN Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM II) assumed responsibility for operations. Operation Continue Hope provided support of UNOSOM II to establish a secure environment for humanitarian relief operations by providing personnel, logistical, communications, intelligence support, a quick reaction force, and other elements as required. Over 60 Army aircraft and approximately 1,000 aviation personnel operated in Somalia from 1992 to 1994.
[edit] See also
- Operation Provide Relief
- Operation Deliverance, the concurrent Canadian mission
