Replies

1993 Aug 8, Four U.S. soldiers were killed when a land mine was detonated underneath their vehicle. This prompted President Clinton to order Army Rangers to try to capture Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid.
(AP, 8/8/98)

1993 Sep 5, Seven Nigerian soldiers were killed in a militia ambush in Somalia as they went to the aid of other UN peacekeepers surrounded by a stone-throwing mob.
(AP, 9/5/98)

1993 Sep 9, About a hundred Somali gunmen and civilians were killed when U.S. and Pakistani peacekeepers fired on Somalis attacking other peacekeepers.
(AP, 9/9/98)

1993 Sep 25, Three U.S. soldiers in Somalia were killed when their helicopter was downed by a rocket-propelled grenade.
(AP, 9/25/98)

1993 Oct 3, Eighteen US Rangers and Delta Force specialists died in a botched raid in Somalia and over 70 were wounded. In 1999 Mark Bowden published "Black Hawk Dawn," an account of the failed attempt to capture Mohammed Farrah Aidid. At least 500 Somalis were killed and 1,000 injured.
(WSJ, 10/23/95, p.A-18)(WSJ, 3/11/99, p.A20)(SFEC, 3/28/99, BR p.3)(SSFC, 12/16/01, p.A1)

1993 Oct 4, US troops blasted their way out of Bakara Market in Mogadishu and left an estimated 500 Somalis dead. Dozens of cheering, dancing Somalis dragged the body of an American soldier through the streets of Mogadishu.
(SFC, 5/6/99, p.E4)(AP, 10/4/98)

1993 Oct 7, President Clinton ordered more troops, heavy armor and naval firepower to Somalia, but also announced he would pull out all Americans by the end of March 1994.
(AP, 10/7/98)
1993 Oct 9, Special U.S. envoy Robert Oakley traveled to Somalia in an attempt to revive a tentative peace agreement reached by Somali clan leaders.
(AP, 10/9/98)

1993 Oct 10, Thousands of Somalis demonstrated in the capital of Mogadishu to support warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid, an event that coincided with the arrival of special U.S. envoy Robert Oakley.
(AP, 10/10/98)

1993 Oct 14, U.S. helicopter pilot Michael Durant and a Nigerian peacekeeper were freed by Somali fighters loyal to Mohamed Farrah Aidid.
(AP, 10/14/98)

1993 Osama Bin Laden was suspected of supplying weapons to shoot down American helicopters.
(SFC, 8/17/98, p.A12)

1993 Muhammad Atef, a top Osama bin Laden lieutenant, and 6 other al Qaeda operatives, set up training camps in Somalia to help Somali tribes oppose a UN peacekeeping operation.
(SSFC, 9/30/01, p.A13)

1994 Jan 31, A convoy of U.S. soldiers opened fire on hundreds of Somali civilians outside a food distribution center, killing at least eight.
(AP, 1/31/99)

1994 Mar 20, Ilaria Alpi (32), Italian journalist, was shot and killed in Somalia along with her cameraman, Miran Hrovatin, on the same day that Italian troops left the country. She had collected evidence of brutality by Italian officers against Somalis along with evidence of illegal gun-running.
(SFC, 1/26/98, p.A8)

1994 Mar 25, American troops completed their withdrawal from Somalia following a largely unsuccessful fifteen-month mission. 20,000 U.N. troops were left behind to keep the peace and facilitate "nation building."
(AP, 3/25/99)