Somalia and Canada

January 7, 2007

What is Peacekeeping

One of the first goals of the United Nations was to find ways to prevent war from occurring or to help end it quickly

UN sent soldiers and civilians to monitor truces in the conflicts between Israel and Arab states, and India-Pakistan

Traditionally, peacekeeping has been defined as a process where a group of lightly armed military personnel stood between two parties in a conflict who had agreed to a ceasefire, to keep the peace. The conventional guiding principles of peacekeeping are threefold: impartiality, minimum use of force and acquiring the consent of involved parties

Canadian role in peacekeeping

Between 1948 and 1989, the UN had 18 peacekeeping missions

Canada was involved in many of them, such as Cyprus

Peacekeeping changes After the end of

the Cold War, peacekeeping becomes more widespread

Since 1990, there has been 45 peacekeeping missions

New problems for peacekeepers Demand that more be done, like provide

food, oversee elections, serve as police Start going into situations where there

was no ceasefire, and not with the consent from all parties

Some accuse western countries of still being neo-colonialists, imposing their ideas on the poorer developing world

Somalia Said Barre was the

military dictator of Somalia from 1969 to 1991

At times had support from Soviet Union and US

Rule became more brutal and tyrannical

Civil War in Somalia Various groups start

civils war to remove Barre

Barre flees in 1991 Groups start

fighting themselves Situation for

Somalia deteriorates

UN Peacekeeping mission In December 1992, UN passes a

resolution to set up a force to bring humanitarian aid and establish peace in Somalia

Led by the US, with 22 other nations, including Canada, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Egypt, Turkey, etc. – over 28 000 troops

Operation Deliverance Canadian forces in Somalia was

about 2000 strong, led by the Canadian Airborne Regiment

Set up at Belet Huen - mission was to secure and bring order to the town and a 30,000 square kilometer area around it

Murder of Shidane Arone Problems of Somalis

stealing food from Canadian camp

March 1993 – Canadian soldiers shoot and kill one of Somali – perhaps an execution

Days later, a teenager is caught and a Canadian soldier beats and tortures him for hours, he later dies

Cover up and the Somali Inquiry Although people are charged, Defence

officials in Canada try keep information from reaching Canadians for several weeks

Somalia Inquiry starts to examine this episode in 1994, reveals larger problems

The Airborne Regiment is disbanded This episode is seen as a low point for

the Canadian military

The US in Somalia Initial American

arrival in Somalia is very positive

April 1993, Somali leaders agree to a peace plan

UN changes the mission to support this plan

Mohammed Farrah Aidid, leader of the United Somali Congress, was the strongest warlord and opposed to the peace plan

June 5, 1993 – his forces attack and kill 24 Pakistani troops inspecting one of his weapons depots

This starts a war between Aidid’s forces against the UN forces

Fighting leads to civilian casualties and anger at the foriegners

Over the rest of 93, fighting continues

Battle of Mogadishu/Day of the Rangers – October 4/5 - 18 Americans and 1 Malaysian are killed, as are about 1000 to 1500 Somalis

American Retreat Images of Americans being

dragged through streets and loss of American lives leads President Clinton to pull the US out of Somalia by 1994

UN mission pulls out in 1995 Somalia falls back into anarchy

and civil war

Long Term Consequences For next several years, US, Canada

and other western nations try to avoid peacekeeping or getting involved in local conflicts

1994 Rwandan Genocide leads to nearly 1 million dead

Civil war in Afghanistan 1992-2001 is not dealt with by UN