The UN’s 1993 massacre of Habar Gidir elders sealed its own mission’s fate

Evidence

This hope seems to have been based largely on his earlier success in rallying the Habar Gidir clan leaders when they were under fierce attack by the forces of U.N.O.S.O.M. in 1993 and ‘Aideed was a hunted fugitive. Abdulqassim’s attempt to persuade his clansmen to make peace with U.N.O.S.O.M. then ended in the tragedy of the unprovoked helicopter gunship attack on the meeting of Habar Gidir elders on 12 July (‘Operation Michigan’) which killed 73 people. (This callous U.N./U.S. blunder eventually led, on 3 October, to the final, disastrous ‘Black Monday’ gunship assault that sealed U.N.O.S.O.M.’s fate.) ‘Abdulqassim, who lived very near the site of this Habar Gidir meeting, was extremely lucky to escape the carnage. — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 679

Categorization

• XREF: Links to earlier discussion of UNOSOM failure and the 1993 ‘Black Monday’ incident, completing the causal chain from the elders’ massacre to the collapse of the UN mission to the later Arta conference. — connects to: U.N. counter-attacks backfired by killing clan elders and turning Aideed into a hero; UNOSOM’s hiring of Habar Gidir locals fatally compromised its intelligence. — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 637; UN counter-attacks killed the very Habar Gidir elders the peace process courted. — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 636

Related

• UN counter-attacks killed the very Habar Gidir elders the peace process courted. (similarity 0.90)
• U.N. counter-attacks backfired by killing clan elders and turning Aideed into a hero (similarity 0.88)
• UNOSOM’s hiring of Habar Gidir locals fatally compromised its intelligence. (similarity 0.87)
• The UN abandoned clan elder empowerment in favor of warlord dealings. (similarity 0.78)