United Nations Operation in Somalia Medal (UNOSOM)

Issued by the United Nations for participation in the United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM) – established on April 24, 1992, by Security Council Resolution 751. In accordance with the agreements reached with the two main Somali factions in Mogadishu, the cease-fire in the capital was to be monitored by a group of 50 unarmed, uniformed United Nations military observers. The observers were to be deployed along the demarcation line separating Mogadishu into two zones. As regards humanitarian assistance, the security personnel envisaged in the agreements were to provide protection and security for United Nations personnel, equipment and supplies at the port of Mogadishu and escort deliveries of humanitarian supplies from there to distribution centers in the city and its immediate environs. They were also to provide security for United Nations personnel, equipment and supplies at the airport in Mogadishu. They were to provide the United Nations' convoys of relief supplies with a sufficiently strong military escort to deter attack; they were authorized to fire in self-defense as a last resort if deterrence should not prove effective. The first elements of the Unified Task Force, spearheaded by the United States of America, were deployed in Mogadishu on December 9, 1992. Once their task was accomplished, the military command was handed over to the United Nations. Meanwhile, UNOSOM remained fully responsible for the political aspects and for humanitarian assistance to Somalia. In February 1994, after several violent incidents and attacks on United Nations soldiers, the Security Council revised UNOSOM II's mandate to exclude the use of coercive methods. UNOSOM II was withdrawn in early March 1995.