The UN mission’s humanitarian mandate undermined any state-building possibility

Evidence

The U.S./U.N. mandate did not include creating a new government for Somalia, which events showed clearly would have required much more time, understanding and patience – and more local expertise – than the international authorities had at their disposal. The U.S. and U.N. forces, on the other hand, even at the height of the anti-‘Aideed campaign, saw their role as innocent humanitarians bringing much-needed aid and succour to Somalia. As a U.N. military spokesman put it bitterly after the Black Hawk helicopter disaster, ‘We came, we fed them, they kicked our asses.’ — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 646

Categorization

• SEED: Essay angle: the structural mismatch between humanitarian mandates and state-building requirements in failed-state interventions.
• XREF: connects to: UN mission left a legacy of aid-funded warlordism and soldier abuses.

Related

• UN mission left a legacy of aid-funded warlordism and soldier abuses. (similarity 0.84)