ABSTRACT
The end of the Cold War in Somalia was marked by the last remaining US officials throwing the keys to the embassy to the local staff, before they themselves escaped the advance of General Mohamed Farah Aideed’s forces as the civil war reached the doors of the presidential palace in January 1991. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979 finally ended any US doubts as to whether a closer relationship with Somalia would be beneficial, and the United States sought to establish access to military facilities in Kenya, Oman, and Somalia. Negotiations of a variety of different kinds with the militias on the ground, in Mogadishu and elsewhere, had led to scores of non-governmental organizations establishing a presence in Somalia and the provision of food and medical assistance. Under cover of the predawn aerial bombing, UN ground troops from Italy, Morocco, and Pakistan had moved into southern Mogadishu and fought their way to Aideed’s by then deserted house.
