Battle of Mogadishu (1993)

[balti]

The Battle of Mogadishu (Somali: Maalintii Rangers, lit. 'Day of the Rangers'), also known as the Black Hawk Down Incident, was part of Operation Gothic Serpent. It was fought on 3–4 October 1993, in Mogadishu, Somalia, between forces of the United States—supported by UNOSOM II—against the forces of the Somali National Alliance (SNA) and armed irregular citizens of south Mogadishu.

The battle was part of the two-year-old Somali Civil War. The United Nations had initially sent troops to alleviate starvation in the south of the country, but then began trying to establish democracy and restore a central government. In June 1993, U.N. peacekeepers suffered their deadliest day in decades when the Pakistani contingent was attacked while inspecting a Somali National Alliance weapons-storage site. UNOSOM II blamed SNA leader Mohammed Farah Aidid and launched a manhunt. In July 1993, U.S. forces in Mogadishu raided the Abdi House in search of Aidid, killing many elders and prominent members of Aidid's clan, the Habr Gidr.[7][8] The raid led many Mogadishu residents to join the fight against UNOSOM II, and the following month, Aidid and the SNA deliberately attacked American personnel for the first time. This, in turn, led President Clinton to dispatch Task Force Ranger to capture Aidid.

On 3 October 1993, U.S. forces planned to seize two of Aidid's top lieutenants during a meeting deep in the city. The raid was only intended to last an hour, but morphed into an overnight standoff and rescue operation extending into the daylight hours of the next day. While the goal of the operation was achieved, it was a pyrrhic victory and spiraled into the deadly Battle of Mogadishu.[12] As the operation was ongoing, Somali forces shot down three American Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters using RPG-7s, with two crashing deep in hostile territory.

A desperate defense of the two downed helicopters began and fighting lasted through the night to defend the survivors of the crashes. In the morning, a UNOSOM II armored convoy fought their way to the besieged soldiers and withdrew, incurring further casualties but rescuing the survivors.

No battle since the Vietnam War had killed so many U.S. troops. Casualties included 18 dead American soldiers and 73 wounded,[16] with Malaysian forces suffering one death and seven wounded, and Pakistani forces two injuries.
Somali casualties were far higher; most estimates are between 133 and 700 dead.

After the battle, dead American soldiers were dragged through the streets of Mogadishu by enraged Somalis, an act that was broadcast on American television to public outcry. The battle led to the pullout of the U.N. mission in 1995. Fear of a repeat drove American reluctance to increase its involvement in Somalia and other regions. Some scholars believe that it influenced the Clinton administration's decision not to intervene in the Rwandan genocide, and it has commonly been referred to as "Somalia Syndrome".

In the 1980s Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre broke up the Somali National Army into clan groupings in order to help maintain his control.

A civil war was underway by 1987–88. Fighting reached the edges of Mogadishu by late 1990 at the latest. Barre fled Mogadishu in late January 1991 for his home region.[23][24] The main rebel group in the capital Mogadishu was the United Somali Congress (USC),[ which later divided into two armed factions: one led by Ali Mahdi Muhammad, who later became president; and the other by Mohamed Farrah Aidid, which became known as USC/Somali National Alliance.

Severe fighting broke out in Mogadishu between Mahdi and Aidid, then spread throughout the country, resulting in over 20,000 casualties by the end of 1991. The civil war destroyed Somalia's agriculture, which led to starvation in large parts of southern Somalia. The international community began to send food supplies, but much—estimates run from 20 to 80 percent—was hijacked and brought to local clan leaders, who routinely exchanged it with other countries for weapons.

Between 1991 and 1992 an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 people died from starvation and another 1.5 million people suffered from it. This situation was exacerbated by the hijacking of aid convoys and supplies.

In August 1992, U.S. President George H. W. Bush announced that U.S. military aircraft would assist the multinational U.N. relief effort in Somalia. This operation was codenamed Operation Provide Relief. Ten C-130s and 400 people were deployed to Mombasa, Kenya, airlifting aid to Somalia's remote areas and reducing reliance on truck convoys. The C-130s delivered 48,000 tons of food and medical supplies in six months to international humanitarian organizations trying to help Somalia's more than three million starving people.

When this did not stop the massive death and displacement of the Somali people (500,000 dead and 1.5 million refugees or displaced), the U.S. launched a major coalition operation to assist and protect humanitarian activities in December 1992. This operation, called Restore Hope, saw the U.S. assuming the unified command in accordance with Resolution 794. The U.S. Marine Corps landed the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) in Mogadishu with elements of 2nd Battalion 9th Marines and 3rd Battalion 11th Marines and secured key facilities within two weeks, intending to facilitate humanitarian actions. Elements of the 2nd Battalion 9th Marines HMLA-369 (Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 369 of Marine Aircraft Group 39, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, Camp Pendleton); 9th Marines; quickly secured routes to Baidoa, Balidogle and Kismayo, then were reinforced by the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division.

The United Nations' intervention, backed by U.S. Marines, has been credited with helping end the famine in Somalia, though the starvation had been improving in the worst-affected areas before troops arrived.

In November 1994, the Washington-based Refugee Policy Group NGO estimated that about 100,000 lives were saved as a result of international assistance, including 10,000 after the deployment of U.S. troops in December 1992