ABSTRACT
On numerous counts, then, not only were Somalis working with a social structure outsiders were unfamiliar with and unused to, but Somalis were also adept at reworking this structure, situationally. So much for Operation Restore Hope, the much heralded US/United Nations (UN) effort to save starving Somalis. On the bright side the United States and the UN did save some Somalis. As the new Africanist rhetoric keeps reiterating, only Humpty Dumpty can really save himself. Somalis have to solve Somalia's problems. Even if policymakers did not realize how much of what they were doing in 1992-1993 fit old patterns of what others had done, Somalis were well aware. In fact, the mission name—Operation Restore Hope—perhaps best epitomizes just how miscalculated US intentions were. On the one hand it revived expectations. On the other hand it promised restoration.
