| Operation Restore Hope |
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Africa had become a continent rife with civil wars, extreme poverty and immense human suffering. Somalia, in particular, was struggling with internal fighting and poor economic and social conditions for its people, a situation which called for massive intervention. Faced with such a humanitarian disaster in Somalia and exacerbated by a complete breakdown in civil order, the United Nations began to provide humanitarian relief for the people of Somalia under the mission, United Nations Operation in Somalia I (UNOSOM I) in April 1992. UNOSOM’s mandate was to secure a stable environment for the delivery of humanitarian assistance, and also to assist in the reconstruction of economic, social and political life. However, the complete intransigence of the local warlords operating in Somalia and their rivalries with each other meant that UNOSOM I could not be performed. The mission never reached its mandated strength and became completely unsuccessful due to the UN’s inability to deliver food and supplies. Relief flights into Somalia were often looted as soon as they landed. Over the final quarter of 1992, the situation in Somalia continued to worsen. Factions were splintering into smaller factions, and then splintered again. Troops were shot at, aid ships attacked and prevented from docking, cargo aircraft were fired upon and aid agencies, public and private, were subject to threats, looting and extortion. Meanwhile, hundreds, if not thousands of poverty-stricken refugees were starving to death every day. Diplomatic avenues having proved largely fruitless, the U.N. asked its member nations for assistance. In December 1992, in one of his last acts as President, George Bush proposed to the U.N. that United States combat troops lead the intervention force. The U.N. accepted this offer and 25,000 U.S. troops and 10,000 personnel from allied nations were deployed to Somalia. President Bush stated that this would not be an “open-ended commitment.” The objective of Operation Restore Hope was to rapidly secure the trade routes in Somalia so that food could get to the people. And for the first time, the U.N. was involved in peace enforcement, that is the armed intervention into a conflict without the prior consent of the state authorities involved in the hostilities. Operation Restore Hope expanded the role of the United States as well as the U.N. in the post Cold War era. By March 1993, the operation had succeeded in improving security and ameliorating the mass starvation of the Somali people as well as constructing and improving 2,000 kilometers of roads. At its peak, almost 30,000 US military personnel participated in the operation, along with 10,000 personnel from twenty-four other states. Civic action projects helped open schools, hospitals, and orphanages. Even though the fighting continued and several peacekeepers were killed, including 18 Americans during an ambush in the city of Mogadishu in a raid chronicled in the book and movie Blackhawk Down, Operation Restore Hope demonstrated the usefulness of engineers in operations other than war. On 4 May 1993 the UN-led operation in Somalia (UNOSOM II) assumed responsibility for operations, marking a transition to the second phase of the United Nations intervention in Somalia, from March 1993 until March 1995. 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. However, faced with news footage of the dead U.S. soldier being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu, American public opinion turned against participation in UNOSOM II. The then U.S. President, Bill Clinton, then decided to withdraw the U.S. forces, setting a deadline of 31 March 1994 for their complete withdrawal. However, the American soldiers completely withdrew on March 3, 1994, 28 days earlier than expected.  |
