Since its independence in 1969, up to 1991 Somalia was ruled by one President, Dictator Mohammed Siad Barre (Fitzgerald, 2002). In 1991, Mohammed Siad Barre was forced out of power when rival clan militia captured Mogadishu the capital city. There emerged power struggle between two clan lords, Ali Mahdi Mohamed and Mohamed Farah Aideed, which led to mass killing of Somalia civilians. One of the two lords, Ali Mahdi Mohamed, declared himself a president. Over 300,000 Somalis died of hunger, diseases or the civil war. In 1992, the United Nations Security Council approved a military mission which was to be led by the United States Army (Paterson, 2010). Although the military mission was meant to protect the delivery of aid in Somalia, UN should have considered other methods of conflict resolution like arbitration or mediation. This is because the military mission was aimed to fight rebels which meant that the UN was supporting Ali Mahdi Mohamed. President Bush assured Americans its force would complete the task quickly and return home. The assurance was questioned by the Pentagon on how long it would take the US troops to return. Reports from the White House said that the troops would return before President Bill Clinton took office on Jan 20th, 1992.
When Bill Clinton took over from Bush 19 soldiers of the United States contingent in Somalia were killed. President Bill Clinton decided to add the number of the troops who needed to protect themselves. On August 1993 a detonated bomb by Aideed supporter killed four US soldiers, two weeks seven more were injured. President Clinton responded by forming a special task force which composed of 400 Delta Force operators and army rangers. This force was named the Rangers Task Force whose mission was to arrest Aideed (Carpenter et al., 2012). As the Rangers task force was on their mission, the US government decided to negotiate with Aideed without informing the troops. Former President Jimmy Carter, who had a relationship with Aideed, was to be the mediator. Collin Powell who was the chairperson of Pentagon called for more money to be diverted into the military budget and purchase machine guns for the US troop in Somalia. His call was opposed by the White House. On 3 October 1993, the Rangers Task Force had a mission to seize two of Aideed’s high lieutenants during a meeting in Mogadishu. The operation which was intended to take one hour lasted up to the following day. Though achieved it led to mass killings in Mogadishu. Americans demanded the withdrawal of US troops and in March 1994, President Clinton ordered them out of Somalia (Rutherford, 2008).
Works Cited
Fitzgerald, Nina J. Somalia: Issues, History, and Bibliography. New York: Nova Science Publ, 2002. Print.
Paterson, Thomas G. American Foreign Relations: A History. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010. Print.
Rutherford, Ken. Humanitarianism Under Fire: The Us and UN Intervention in Somalia. Sterling, VA: Kumarian Press, 2008. Print.
Carpenter, Shawn, and Leigh Neville. Day of the Rangers, Somalia, 1993. , 2012. Print.
