ABSTRACT
In the gray area between collective security and traditional peacekeeping that has characterized the most sensitive United Nations (UN) missions since the Gulf war, the Somalia crisis was the first to test the limits of armed humanitarian action in internal conflicts. The UN peacekeeping mission in Somalia occurred in three phases. Each involved a different level of authorized force, a different command structure, and a different approach to the principles of impartiality and consent. The magnitude of the civil violence that began to spread through the country in 1988 stemmed partly from the abrupt change in Somalia's position from Cold War pawn to strategic backwater. Historically, Somalia has been the consolation prize in the Horn of Africa, overshadowed by Ethiopia during the colonial era as well as the Cold War. Public support for the Somalia intervention was not a real problem until late in the crisis.
