UNOSOM II: Not Failure, Not Success

Abstract

A case study for an on-going operation is difficult to write, and to some extent, it is unfair to draw conclusions before it has played itself out. However, it would be impossible to have an anthology of peace-enforcement studies without considering Somalia, which will undoubtedly influence UN thinking on all similar situations in the future. This chapter focuses on UNOSOM n, which began in May 1993 and, as the name implies, was the second of two UN-controlled operations in Somalia. The first, United Nations Operations in Somalia (UNOSOM I), was a small 500-man effort which began in August 1992 and which encountered such serious difficulties as to necessitate a Unified Task Force (UNIT AF) intervention under US leadership and termed Opera- tion Restore Hope. Granted Chapter VII enforcement powers by the Security Council, UNITAF operated from December 1992 to May 1993 when the UN again took direct control with UNOSOM II. The latter mission was also granted enforcement powers, making it the first UN- controlled peacekeeping operation formally so designated. This chapter is designed, not as a history, but as an analysis of that operation. In the end, it asks more questions than it answers. The ultimate question is what the experience has taught us about peace- keeping, peace-enforcement, and nation-building as future missions for the United Nations.