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 washingtonpost.com > World > Special Reports > Somalia 1993
Operation Restore Hope was a 1993 United Nations peacekeeping venture to restore order in the nomadic East African society of Somalia. It was launched with guarded optimism but went tragically awry on Oct. 3, 1993 when 18 U.S. soldiers were killed in a firefight with Somali gunmen.

A decade later, as the Bush administration contemplates taking military action against alleged terrorist groups in Somalia, that incident is not only the stuff of Hollywood entertainment (“Black Hawk Down”) but also a very real factor in the thinking of senior U.S. officials.



A Somali woman beats on the wreckage of a U.S. Black Hawk helicopter the day after it was shot down on a Mogadishu street. The downing of the helicopter set off a fierce gun battle that killed 18 U.S. soldiers and hundreds of Somalians.
From the Post
• A two-part 1994 Washington Post series recounted the story of the Oct. 1993 firefight in Mogadishu.
Part I: The Raid That Went Wrong
• Part 2: Night of a Thousand Casualties
Commentary
• Controlled Exit by Jim Hoagland
• Here's a Good Date Certain: Now by Richard Cohen
• In Somalia, the Saudi Connection by Christopher Whalen
• The Good We've Done by William Raspberry
• Somalia: The Mission and the Myths by Colman McCarthy
• The Fallout of Failure by Lally Weymouth
Understanding Somalia
• Somalia and the War on Terrorism As the United States expands the war on terrorism, Somalia's radical Islamists are a likely target.
The Situation
Somalia: A Tough Challenge for the U.N.
The U.N. peace-keeping operation charged with continuing American efforts to disarm militiamen to allow famine aid to flow unimpeded was hampered by a lack of funds and by delays in developing plans.
The Gun Battle
Somalia Battle Killed 12 Americans, Wounded 78
Initial reports said at least twelve American soldiers were killed, 78 wounded and an undetermined number missing in the ferocious 15-hour battle with guerrillas of fugitive militia leader Mohamed Farah Aideed in Mogadishu on Oct. 4, 1993. Later six more soldiers were confirmed dead.
The Aftermath
Somalia Operation Reviewed, Planning Faulted
The destruction by Somali militiamen of an American Ranger company, which suffered unit casualties unlike any seen in the U.S. Army since Vietnam, caught U.S. forces in Mogadishu without adequate contingency plans to rescue or reinforce the surrounded and outgunned force.
From the Post Archives
U.S. Prepares Peace Offer (By John Lancaster, Oct. 9, 1993)

A Humanitarian Gesture Turns Deadly (By Thomas W. Lippman and Barton Gellman, Oct. 10, 1993)

Aideed Calls for Somalia Cease-Fire (By Keith B. Richburg, Oct. 10, 1993)

Somalia's Cease-Fire Takes Hold (By Keith B. Richburg, Oct. 11, 1993)

A Somali View: 'I Am The Winner' (By Keith B. Richburg, Oct. 18, 1993)

U.S. Pull Rangers Out of Somalia (By Ruth Marcus and John Lancaster, Oct. 20, 1993)

U.N. Shifts Policy on Somalia (By Julia Preston, Nov. 19, 1993)

Radicals Gain Strength in the Horn of Africa (By Jennifer Parmelee, Jan. 5, 1994)

U.S. Completes Pullout from Somalia (By Keith B. Richburg, March 26, 1994)



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