The UN at Bay, 1990-2011 » The UN in Somalia, 1991-95

Civil war and famine in Somalia

Somalia is a country in the Horn of Africa. From 1969 it was ruled by the dictator Siad Barre. In January 1991 rebel groups drove him out. They then turned on each other, and Somalia was left with no government at all. The rebel groups were mostly based on clans, which are large family groups that Somalis belong to. Armed leaders called warlords, such as Mohamed Farrah Aidid, controlled districts and fought for power, especially around the capital, Mogadishu.

This kind of conflict is called an identity war: people fight along lines of clan, ethnic group or religion, not between two countries. It is much harder to end than a war between states, because there is no single government to talk to and the fighters will not all obey one leader.

The fighting destroyed farms and trade. In 1991-92 Somalia suffered a famine, a severe shortage of food that causes mass starvation. Hundreds of thousands of people died. Charities sent humanitarian aid, which is food and medicine for people in need, but gunmen stole much of it from ports and convoys.

Key terms:

• Clan: a large family group; most Somali fighting groups were based on clans.
• Warlord: an armed leader who controls an area by force, not by law.
• Identity war: a civil war fought between groups defined by clan, ethnic group or religion.
• Famine: a severe food shortage causing mass starvation.
• Humanitarian aid: food, medicine and shelter for people in need.
• Nation-building: helping a country set up a working government and institutions.

The first UN missions, 1992

In April 1992 the Security Council set up a small mission, UNOSOM I, to watch a ceasefire and protect food deliveries. Pakistani troops arrived to guard the aid, but there were too few of them and the gunmen kept stealing food. UN peacekeepers normally work with the agreement of the people in charge, and in Somalia nobody was in charge to give it.

The US-led force was much bigger, with tens of thousands of troops, most of them American. Because the UN had no army of its own, it depended on the USA to provide one. The force opened the roads, escorts reached the towns, and by early 1993 the famine was easing. In 1992-93 the UN could fairly claim it had saved many lives.

UNOSOM II and the battle of Mogadishu, 1993

In March 1993 the Council voted for a second mission, UNOSOM II. It took over from the US-led force in May 1993 and had more ambitious aims: to disarm the factions and help Somalis rebuild a government. It was allowed to use force to do this. That turned a food mission into an attempt at nation-building.

The warlords did not accept this. On 5 June 1993 gunmen ambushed UN troops from Pakistan and killed 24 of them. The Council called for those responsible to be arrested, and UN forces began hunting Aidid, whose supporters were blamed. In the eyes of some Somali groups, the UN had stopped being a neutral helper and had become one side in the fighting.

On 3-4 October 1993 US special forces, who were under American command and not the UN's, raided a building in Mogadishu to seize some of Aidid's leaders. Two American Black Hawk helicopters were shot down and the soldiers were trapped in a night of fierce street fighting. Eighteen Americans died, and many hundreds of Somalis were killed. American television showed pictures from the battle, and public opinion in the USA turned sharply against the mission.

Withdrawal

On 7 October 1993 President Clinton announced that US troops would leave by 31 March 1994. Other countries also pulled out their forces. The last UN troops left in March 1995. The UN had spent a great deal and lost soldiers, yet Somalia still had no central government and its clans were still fighting.

The UN's attempt to find long-term peace failed for several reasons:

• The factions never agreed to peace, so there was no deal for the UN to support.
• The mission grew from feeding people into disarming factions and nation-building.
• The UN relied on member states for troops, and the USA lost the will to stay once its soldiers had died.

Changed: the UN was now acting inside one country's civil war, not between states as in Korea. Stayed the same: its success still depended on the Great Powers, especially the USA. After Somalia, many members were far more careful about sending troops into civil wars.

Exam-style question

Explain TWO ways in which the UN mission in Somalia (1992-95) was different from the UN mission in Namibia (1989-90). [6 marks]

(In Namibia, South Africa, Angola and Cuba agreed a deal in 1988, and the UN mission supervised a ceasefire and elections that led to independence in March 1990.)