ABSTRACT
This chapter describes how the relationship between the military forces and the humanitarian community evolved, the problems encountered, and the lessons learned by the participants and suggests how future such operations can benefit from the Restore Hope experience. It focuses on the relationship between the military and the humanitarian organizations during the period of the initial intervention by the US-led Unified Task Force, which extended from December 9, 1992, to May 4, 1993, when the transition to United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM II) occurred. Although the potential for conflict between military and humanitarian institutions is a constant feature of military-civilian humanitarian operations, the two communities in Somalia generally got along well. Increasing the capacity and effectiveness of humanitarian coordination mechanisms will lead to the adoption of more coherent humanitarian plans and policies and provide for improved representation of humanitarian views to the military.
