Stability Operations in Somalia 1992-1993: A Case Study

Operation RESTORE HOPE, a U.S.-led peace enforcement operation conducted in Somalia under United Nations (U.N.) auspices from December 1992 to May 1993, offers many lessons that are applicable to a range of possible challenges in the future. Unlike peacekeeping operations, which rely on the consent and good will of the parties to a dispute, peace enforcement operations involve the show or use of military force in an armed conflict to separate combatants and create, maintain, or reinstate a cease-fire. The Joint Force conducts these operations with limited or no consent by the warring parties. Peace enforcement operations are inherently joint, interagency, intergovernmental, and multinational in nature. They require close cooperation with nongovernmental organizations and the civil society of the host nation. Peace enforcement is complex and one of the most difficult and challenging missions. It warrants heightened study by national security professionals. Every military operation is unique. Nevertheless, Operation RESTORE HOPE deserves study as an example of how to conduct a complex joint, interagency, intergovernmental, and multinational stability operation to achieve limited objectives. The operation embodied the current principles of joint operations even before the Joint Force codified them. UNITAF demonstrated how the introduction of overwhelming combat power, and its measured use, could dramatically change the conditions in a failed or failing state. The operation set a high standard for political-diplomatic-military-humanitarian cooperation and unity of effort. A study of the operation suggests that a "bottom up" approach to restoring civil institutions and infrastructures may be more effective in the short term and an excellent complement to a "top down" approach focused on restoring a central government. The operation highlighted the inability of the U.N. to lead a peace enforcement operation without a capable lead nation.