The UN and US intervention, 1992–1995: UNOSOM and UNITAF

In short

After the government fell in January 1991, war and drought brought famine to the south. The UN estimates that perhaps 300,000 people died from November 1991 to late 1992. About 4.5 million people, over half the population, were threatened by severe hunger (UN, UNOSOM I background).

The world answered with two UN missions and a US-led force. The UN credits them with saving at least a quarter of a million lives (see below). The operation also became a war with one faction in Mogadishu, and ended with the UN's withdrawal in 1995.

UNOSOM I, April–December 1992

• 23 January 1992. UN Security Council resolution 733 called for a ceasefire and placed an arms embargo on Somalia (UN, UNOSOM I background).
• 3 March 1992. Interim President Ali Mahdi Mohamed and General Mohamed Farah Aidid, leaders of the two wings of the United Somali Congress, signed a ceasefire for Mogadishu (same source).
• 24 April 1992. Resolution 751 created the UN Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM). The Algerian diplomat Mohamed Sahnoun became the UN's special representative (same source).
• 14 September 1992. The first 500 UN security troops, from Pakistan, arrived in Mogadishu (same source).

Fighting and looting kept food from reaching the hungry. In November 1992 the Secretary-General told the Council that only force could secure deliveries (same source).

UNITAF, December 1992–May 1993

On 3 December 1992 the Security Council unanimously passed resolution 794. It authorised "all necessary means to establish as soon as possible a secure environment for humanitarian relief operations" (UN, UNOSOM I background).

The United States offered to lead the force. The first troops of the Unified Task Force (UNITAF), known in the US as Operation Restore Hope, landed in Mogadishu on 9 December 1992. At its height UNITAF had about 37,000 troops from more than 20 countries, covering about 40 percent of the country (same source).

In March 1993, 15 Somali movements met in Addis Ababa and signed an agreement on disarmament and a transitional council (UN, UNOSOM II background).

UNOSOM II, May 1993–March 1995

Resolution 814 of 26 March 1993 created a larger mission, UNOSOM II, with a mandate to disarm the factions and rebuild institutions. It took over from UNITAF on 4 May 1993. It was authorised up to 28,000 troops and police from 34 countries (UN, UNOSOM II facts and figures).

5 June 1993 and the war with Aidid's faction

Aidid's faction, the USC/SNA, had signed the Addis Ababa agreement but did not cooperate with disarmament. On 5 June 1993, armed attacks on UN troops in south Mogadishu killed 25 Pakistani soldiers, by the UN's count (UN, UNOSOM II background).

Resolution 837 of 6 June called for the arrest of those responsible. From 12 June UN forces carried out air and ground attacks in south Mogadishu. On 17 June the UN representative ordered that Aidid be detained (same source).

3 October 1993

US Rangers raided south Mogadishu to capture Aidid's aides. They detained 24 suspects. Somali fighters shot down two US helicopters, and 18 US soldiers were killed and 75 wounded (UN, UNOSOM II background). A Malaysian soldier was also killed (Human Rights Watch, World Report 1994).

Human Rights Watch reported that "several hundred Somalis may have been killed". Aidid's side gave 315 dead and 812 wounded, figures the Red Cross called "plausible" (same source).

Days later President Clinton announced that US forces would leave by 31 March 1994. On 9 October Aidid's faction declared a unilateral ceasefire with the UN (UN, UNOSOM II background).

Who suffered?

Somalis died from famine, from faction fighting, and from the fighting between UN forces and Aidid's militia. Human Rights Watch documented violations of the laws of war by all sides in 1993 (HRW, World Report 1994):

• By UN and US forces. On 13 June Pakistani troops fired on a crowd and killed at least ten people, including women and children. On 17 June UN forces fired on Digfer Hospital, and at least five patients died. On 12 July US helicopters fired missiles at what the UN called a command centre of General Aidid; no warning was given, and the UN first said 13 died, but the Red Cross verified at least 54. Africa Watch estimated that by the end of October, 500 to 600 Somalis had been killed by US or UN forces and over 2,000 wounded.
• By Aidid's forces. Fighters used hospitals to fire from and "civilians seem to have been used to 'shield' his troops". Somalis working for the UN were killed, in what were reported to be summary executions.
• Trials. Six Canadian soldiers were charged over the beating to death of a Somali in their custody (see The Somalia affair). Belgian forces opened an inquiry over their conduct in Kismayo (see Belgian and Italian troops in Somalia, 1993).

UNOSOM II lost 154 personnel: 149 soldiers and 5 civilian staff (UN, UNOSOM II facts and figures).

Withdrawal, 1995

After 1993 several countries withdrew their troops. The final phase was covered by a seven-nation force under US Lieutenant-General Anthony Zinni. The last UN troops left Mogadishu in early March 1995 (UN, UNOSOM II background).

What the UN says it achieved

The UN's own summary credits the operation with a national ceasefire and with 52 of 92 planned district councils and 8 of 18 regional councils. It says "at a minimum, an estimated quarter of a million lives were saved" (UN, UNOSOM II background).

It also notes that more than 250 elders, scholars, women's groups and community organisations took part in the Addis Ababa conference of March 1993, "an unprecedented broadening of political participation" (same source). What followed is told in the collapse, 1991–2000.

Sources differ

• Pakistani dead on 5 June 1993. The UN gives 25 killed. Human Rights Watch gives 24.
• Somali dead on 3 October 1993. No agreed figure exists. Human Rights Watch reported several hundred; Aidid's side gave 315.
• The 12 July 1993 raid. UNOSOM first gave 13 dead. The Red Cross verified at least 54.

Read the primary sources yourself

• United Nations, UNOSOM I: background: text.
• United Nations, UNOSOM II: background: text, and facts and figures.
• Human Rights Watch, World Report 1994, Somalia chapter: text.