Black Hawkdown

OPERATIONS IN SOMALIA

Somalian desert, 1993: Army Rangers wait for helicopters to return them to base after training.

INTRODUCTION

SCOPE • AIM • BACKGROUND • SOMALI LEADER • UNOSOM II • US RANGERS IN SOMALIA • DOOM TO FAIL • MALAYSIAN TROOPS IN THE DEBACLE • LESSON LEARNT • CONCLUSION

AIM

BACKGROUND

MAP OF AFRICA    

SOMALIA

     

MAP OF SOMALIA

FLAG OF SOMALIA

At the Voluntary Hospital in Mogadishu, a nurse holds a child who is being treated for malnutrition.

Only rubbles remains of downtown Mogadishu along "the Green Line." This area is the boundary that separates the warring clan factions of Hussein Mohammed Aidid and Ali Mahdi Mohamed

.

Mohamed Hassan Farah, 48, prays on the roof of the Sahafi Hotel, where  a television satellite dish dominates the background. 

A teenager with an automatic weapon resting on his shoulders stands behind  younger children who react to visitors with wariness. 

Women and children with water bottles line up to get water from a public water supply. There is no running water, plumbing or electricity in many parts of Mogadishu. 

With his finger on the trigger of an Ak-47, Liban Abdi Siyad, 20, is one of many armed gunmen roving the streets of Mogadishu. The payment for the security he provides is a bag of rice and some khat, a weed that when chewed acts as a stimulant

One of Somalia's notorious "technicals": a light truck with a mounted machine gun, filled with guns for hire. Fighting is still common along clan boundaries in Mogadishu

Carts drawn by donkeys hauling wood share the roads with automobiles in Mogadishu. The roads are in need of major repair. Drainage systems for water overflow are non-existent.

A Somali street near the target on Oct. 3, 1993.

MOHD FARRAH AIDID

UNOSOM II

US RANGERS IN SOMALIA

US ARMY RANGERS

Dave Diemer (in the foreground) and the other members of Chalk Four on the tarmac in Somalia.

Michael Durant's helicopter heading out over Mogadishu on Oct. 3, 1993.  Mike Goodale rode on this one. 

HMMWV, the military acronym for high-mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle.

By Mark Bowden INQUIRER STAFF WRITER December 10, 1997

DOOM TO FAIL

MALAYSIAN TROOPS IN THE DEBACLE

19 RMR MECHANISED

LESSON LEARNT

CONCLUSION