Background
In December 1992, U.S. President George H. W. Bush ordered the U.S. military to join the U.N. in a joint operation known as Operation Restore Hope, with the primary mission of restoring order in Somalia. The country was wracked by civil war and a severe famine as it was ruled by a number of warlords. Over the next several months, the situation deteriorated.
In January 1993, Bush's successor, Bill Clinton, took office.
In May 1993, all the parties involved in the civil war agreed to a disarmament conference proposed by the leading Somali warlord, Mohamed Farrah Aidid. The Somali National Alliance had been formed in June 1992. This alliance consisted of warlords across the country, operating under Aidid's authority, Aidid having declared himself Somalia's president. A great number of Somali civilians also resented the international forces, leading many, including women and children, to take up arms and actively resist U.S. forces during fighting in Mogadishu. On June 5, 1993, one of the deadliest attacks on U.N. forces in Somalia occurred when 24 Pakistani soldiers were ambushed and killed in an Aidid-controlled area of Mogadishu.
Any hope of a peaceful resolution of the conflict quickly vanished. The next day, the U.N.'s Security Council issued Resolution 837, calling for the arrest and trial of the ambush's perpetrators. U.S. warplanes and U.N. troops began an attack on Aidid's stronghold. Aidid remained defiant, and the violence between Somalis and U.N. forces escalated.
Read more about this topic: Operation Gothic Serpent
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