MOGADISHU: The United States is sending dozens of troops in war-torn Somalia for the first time in decades since the infamous downing of a Blackhawk helicopter carrying US Special Forces in 1993. The troops whose task will be to offer logistical and training support to local forces to fight the Islamist group al-Shabab will be the largest deployment of regular forces to Somalia since withdrawal in 1994.
While this may be perceived as the first-time regular troops are deployed to Somalia, there is already a small number of US counter-terrorism experts and advisers who have been stationed in Mogadishu for some time. These US forces have trained a highly effective elite Somali force and are also advising and co-ordinating with African troops fighting al-Shabab.
Al-Shabab fighters march with their guns during military exercises on the outskirts of Mogadishu. Credit: (AP Photo/Mohamed Sheikh Nor)
According to U.S. Africa Command (AfriCom), about 40 troops heading to Somalia are for logistical and training purposes and will train the ill-equipped, very fractured and undisciplined Somali forces. United Kingdom and Turkey are among other countries already assisting in training local troops. The African Union has a troop of 22,000 that is helping the centralized weak Somali government fight al-Shabab and to stay in power.
U.S. is sending a few dozen troops to Somalia for logistics and training support. Photo Credit: Kacper-Pempel/Reuters
The US withdrew its forces after a Blackhawk helicopter carrying 18 US Special Forces personnel was shot down. Horrific images of incidents that followed thereafter have haunted the country for decades. The incident which shocked the nation and the entire US military brass inspired a Hollywood blockbuster movie, Black Hawk Down.
Child plays on the remnants of downed US Blackhawk that was shot down in October 1993. Photo Credit: Taken October 14, 1993; Scott Peterson/Liaison via Getty
In 1993, a special task force was assigned to capture Mohammad Farrah Aidid, an elusive Somali warlord who controlled war-torn Mogadishu when a Black Hawk helicopter was shot down. What followed was an 18-hour battle which left 18 US soldiers and airmen dead with 73 wounded. It is estimated that as many as a 1,000 Somalis were killed.
The battle in Mogadishu remains one of the most famous albeit disappointing event in American military history, a tragic military event which the country would like to forget.
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