Somalia Today

After the tragic deaths of 18 U.S. soldiers on October 3, 1993, President Clinton announced the withdrawal of all American troops by March, 1994. A year later, all U.N. personnel were evacuated out of Somalia.

Left to their own devices, the Somali clans continued to fight each other for control of their struggling country. In 1996, Mohamed Farrah Aidid died from gunshot wounds received during a gun battle in the streets of Mogadishu. Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk Down, wrote that his death occurred the same day Maj. Gen. Garrison retired from the army. "A coincidence the general is said to note with a wink," he writes.

Aidid's death caused even a greater fissure among those vying for power. Aidid's faction split into several clans - one controlled by his son Hussein. Ironically, Hussein was a Marine reservist who was pulled out of college in California and activated during the Marine Corps' tenure in Somalia.

As fighting between the clans increased and atrocities against civilians became more violent, virtually all relief agencies pulled their workers out of the country. Somalia continued on a spiral descent until July 2000 when a conference held in Djibouti eventually led to a transitional civilian government comprised of a 245-member "national assembly" and co-chaired by a president and prime minister.

Today, the "transitional" government still exists and the political and social situation in Somalia remains fragile. Nerves are currently on edge as various news and government sources hint to U.S. intervention once again. This time, the U.S. is interested in locating and destroying various al Qaeda cells that reportedly use Somalia as a sanctuary.

After attending a briefing by the US defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, a senior German official leaked to the UK's Guardian that "US action against Somalia was not a question of 'if' but 'how and when'". He added: "Anyone who rules out Somalia would be a fool."

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