UNOSOM I, 1992–1993: the first UN operation in Somalia

In short

The United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM, later called UNOSOM I) ran from April 1992 to March 1993. It was set up to monitor a ceasefire in Mogadishu, to protect UN staff and supplies at the city's port and airport, and to escort food aid (UN Peacekeeping, UNOSOM I mandate).

It never reached its planned size. By late 1992 the UN Secretary-General reported that aid was being looted and UN troops fired on, and the Security Council authorised a US-led force instead (UN, UNOSOM I background). The whole UN and US intervention, through 1995, is told in the UN and US intervention, 1992–1995.

The crisis, 1991–1992

The UN's own account gives this picture of the country in early 1992 (UN, UNOSOM I background):

• Mogadishu. From November 1991 the heaviest fighting since January broke out between forces backing interim president Ali Mahdi Mohamed and those backing General Mohamed Farah Aidid, chairman of the United Somali Congress.
• Hunger. "Almost 4.5 million people in Somalia, over half of the estimated population, were threatened by severe malnutrition." It estimated "perhaps 300,000 people died since November 1991".
• Refugees. "Almost one million Somalis sought refuge in neighbouring countries and elsewhere."

See the collapse, 1991–2000.

Getting to a ceasefire

• January 1992. A UN team led by James Jonah visited Mogadishu. All faction leaders "except General Aidid" backed a ceasefire (UN background).
• 23 January 1992. Resolution 733 called for an end to fighting and imposed a "general and complete embargo" on weapons to Somalia (same source). See the UN arms embargo, 1992–2023.
• 12–14 February. Talks at UN headquarters in New York, with the Arab League, the OAU and the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
• 3 March 1992. After four days of talks in Mogadishu, Ali Mahdi and Aidid signed an "Agreement on the Implementation of a Ceasefire", which accepted a UN security unit for aid convoys and 20 observers on each side of the city.
• 27–28 March. Aidid and Ali Mahdi signed letters of agreement on monitoring and on fair distribution of aid.

The mission

• 24 April 1992. Resolution 751 set up UNOSOM. It provided 50 unarmed observers at once and agreed "in principle" to a security force (UN background).
• 28 April. Mohamed Sahnoun of Algeria was named the Secretary-General's Special Representative (UN, UNOSOM I facts and figures).
• Early July. The chief military observer, Brigadier-General Imtiaz Shaheen of Pakistan, arrived with the first observers.
• 12 August. After "considerable delays and difficulties", the faction leaders agreed to 500 UN security troops in Mogadishu. Pakistan provided the unit. The first troops arrived on 14 September (UN background).
• 28 August. Resolution 775 allowed four more units of up to 750 each to protect convoys across the country, and four zone headquarters. With 719 logistics troops added on 8 September, the planned total was 4,219 (same source).

Facts and figures

From the UN's own record (UN, UNOSOM I facts and figures):

Aid under attack, late 1992

The UN described the situation in October and November 1992 (UN background):

• The mission. "UNOSOM troops in Mogadishu were fired upon and their vehicles and arms taken." Several local authorities "refused to agree to the deployment of United Nations troops".
• The aid. "Relief ships were prevented from docking, threatened and even shelled." Large sums of cash and food "were being extorted from donor agencies".
• The dying. "According to some estimates, as many as 3,000 persons a day were dying of starvation in Somalia, while warehouses remained stocked."
• Sahnoun. He resigned and was replaced by Ismat Kittani on 3 November 1992.
• 100-Day Programme. From September a 100-day aid plan asked for $82.7 million, of which $67.3 million was received.

The turn to force

• 24 and 29 November 1992. The Secretary-General wrote to the Security Council, set out five options, and concluded "there was no alternative but to resort to the enforcement provisions under Chapter VII". On 25 November the acting US Secretary of State, Lawrence Eagleburger, said the US was ready to lead such an operation (UN background).
• 3 December 1992. Resolution 794 authorised "all necessary means to establish as soon as possible a secure environment for humanitarian relief operations in Somalia" (same source).
• 9 December 1992. The first troops of the US-led Unified Task Force (UNITAF) landed in Mogadishu. UNOSOM stayed responsible for political and aid work (same source).
• 26 March 1993. Resolution 814 created UNOSOM II, which took over in May 1993 (UN, UNOSOM II mandate).

Who suffered?

• People in the famine zones, above all in the countryside of central and southern Somalia, where the UN estimated perhaps 300,000 deaths from November 1991 (UN background).
• The people of Mogadishu, caught in fighting between the two factions.
• Aid workers, whose lives were "put in danger" as they distributed food (UN background).
• Six UNOSOM soldiers who died in the mission (UN facts and figures).

Sources differ

• Why the mission stalled. The UN account puts it down to the absence of a government, faction leaders who refused or delayed deployment, and attacks on aid.
• The number of deaths. The UN gave "perhaps 300,000" from November 1991 and "as many as 3,000 persons a day" at the worst point, both as estimates.

Read the primary sources yourself

• UN Peacekeeping, UNOSOM I: background (full text): text.
• UN Peacekeeping, UNOSOM I: mandate: text; facts and figures: text.
• UN Peacekeeping, UNOSOM II: mandate: text.