The problem with international peacekeeping in the 1990s was that the United Nations "Blue Helmets" on the ground had a tough time finding any peace to keep. It was seldom scarcer than in Somalia, an East African country ripped apart by civil war and starvation. In December 1992, the United States spearheaded a UN effort to protect food convoys destined for hundreds of thousands of Somalis on the brink of famine. In Somalia, the line between keeping the peace and starting a war was razor thin.
Originally greeted by most Somalis as saviors, the UN soldiers quickly felt the warm welcome fade. Just two weeks after the American soldiers stormed ashore as part of Operation Restore Hope, troopers on patrol in the center of Mogadishu came under fire from Somali militiamen. Confrontation was looming.
One of the early hotspots in central Mogadishu was along the so-called Green Line, a tense frontier of bombed-out buildings and rubble-strewn streets that separated the militias loyal to the two most powerful faction leaders in Mogadishu-Ali Mahdi Mohamed and General Mohamed Farah Aidid. Perched on a hill overlooking the Green Line were the ruins of what had been Somalia's national parliament. Each day a platoon of young soldiers tramped over piles of shredded papers and patches of broken glass to take up a position behind its bullet-riddled walls and windows.
A decision on how to react to a challenge from one of the warring factions often had to be made in a split second by an officer in his mid-20s who was never sure if his superiors would support the action. The dilemma was spelled out by Lieutenant Andrew Milburn, the platoon commander at the parliament, just days after a heavily armed truck had roared up to challenge the marines. One Somali fired his AK-47 assault rifle into the building, while another, on the back of the vehicle, aimed a 50-caliber machine gun at the soldiers. Milburn gave the order to fire back. One Somali was wounded. "The locals say they know we cannot shoot," Milburn said. "I just got tired of people running with their weapons every time we said, 'Put them down.' "
As a faint red glow over central Mogadishu heralded the coming night, two American corporals, Mark Burnett and Troy Sievers, rode from the ruins of the parliament back to their makeshift base at the city's port. Coming down the hill along Fiat Avenue on the Green Line, they spotted a group of Somali gunmen lurking in the shadows and immediately began shouting, "Dhig Bundo, Dhig Bundo," Somali for "put down the gun." While Burnett sat at the steering wheel, Sievers had the unenviable task of jumping out of the American military Humvee vehicle to chase the fleeing militiamen. Theirs was a risky action because they were under orders not to try to disarm militiamen when they were outnumbered. Burnett and Sievers went ahead anyway, and took two rifles before beating a fast retreat.
The shooting at the parliament and the confiscation of the weapons were small incidents by the standards of violence that would later come to characterize the UN operation in Somalia. Such incidents were routine for soldiers from Italy, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates and a host of other nations participating in the UN peacekeeping force. But they also were symptomatic of the pressures facing the blue helmets as they sought to keep peace where there was none.
By the time Lieutenant Milburn and his troops were packing their bags two weeks later for a return trip to San Diego, frustration was high and nerves were frayed. Milburn disagreed with his superiors' order to pursue a quiet campaign of disarming the gunmen. "The only way to make progress here is to go door to door and get the weapons," he said. "Just picking them up when you see them on the street is not good enough."
On March 2, 1995, the last 2,400 UN peacekeepers from Pakistan pulled out of Mogadishu. The departure marked the end of the UN mission in Somalia. The UN mission spent approximately $2 billion in an attempt to restore order and provide humanitarian assistance.
Little has changed since the departure of the United Nations peacekeeping missions. Somalia is still without an internationally recognized government. Civil unrest and factional conflict continued to plague Somalia throughout 1996. In October 1996, three Somali warlords signed a cease-fire designed to end the fighting that has claimed over 350,000 lives. Despite the cease-fire, fighting has raged on in the country. In 1996, the United Nations continued to provide humanitarian assistance in Somalia and has allocated approximately $45 million for 1997.
Source: By: Karl Maier (excerpt from A Look at Some Peacekeepers), from: A Global Affair: An Inside Look at the United Nations, published by Jones & Janello, ⌐ 1995, all rights reserved.
