UNITED STATES PSYOP IN SOMALIA (1/4)

Herbert A. Friedman

I have hesitated in writing about the Psychological operations (PSYOP) planned and carried out during the United Nations intervention in Somalia simply because there are so many items to describe and so much data already written about that brief African adventure. The leaflets alone number close to 100, and if we add in the handbills, posters and other items, there are well over 100. I did write a short report entitled "A Brief Look at Propaganda over Somalia," for the winter 1994 issue of Perspectives, the Journal of the Psychological Operations Association. In that report, I illustrated and translated four UNITAF leaflets, including the first two that we show further down in this article. This time we will study the operation in much greater depth. Because of the number of PSYOP products involved, we will select and show only those that are particularly interesting.

American newspapers seem to get excited about wars and famines in foreign countries in cycles. At one time, they would write headlines and print numerous articles and editorials about the Guerrilla wars in Peru, Bolivia, Guatemala, and a host of other Central and South American nations. For a few weeks the headlines would be full of pictures and stories about the death and destruction, and then their interest would wane and they would go on to another hot topic. The wars still go on, and people are still dying, but the newspapers have lost interest.

We have seen the very same sort of cyclic activity when it comes to mass starvation, drought and famine in Africa. The newspapers will depict photographs of starving children with bloated bellies, weeping mothers, and bone-dry fields where nothing grows. It might be Ethiopia, the Congo, Somalia, or more recently, Liberia. After a few weeks, the journalists move on, no longer interested in the starving children. They still die, but the publishers have sold their papers and it is time to find another disaster to publicize and exploit.

In some ways, this is how the United States became involved in Somalia. For weeks, the newspapers told of the suffering people and the warlords who kept them starving and in poverty. The United Nations clamored for a military force to protect food shipments, the newspapers demanded that the United States be part of that force, and slowly and gradually, the American military found itself unwillingly sucked into the vortex that is Africa.

A host of local petty warlords and clans ruled Somalia. They fought bitterly to control their small parcels of barren land and starving citizens. This was especially true in the capitol city of Mogadishu. The situation was so bad in that city that it was estimated that 500,000 Somalis would die of starvation in 1992. President Bush found himself under tremendous pressure to send American troops to protect relief workers and the food shipped to the starving nation. He finally authorized the deployment of American troops in an operation called Restore Hope.

The Army Times of 14 December 1992 lists the major warlords and their organizations:

Somali National Movement – Abdul Rahman Tur.
Somali Salvation Democratic Front – Colonel Tusuf.
United Somali Congress (Aideed faction) General Mohammed Farah Aideed.
United Somali Congress (Ali Mahdi faction) Ali Mahdi Muhammed.
Somali National Front – General Mohamed Said Hersi Morgan.
Somali Patriotic Movement – Colonel Omar Jess.

First, a history of the United Nations political and military activity in Somalia. This information is courtesy of the United Nations Department of Public Information.

The United Nations in Somalia, United Nations Department of Public Information, April 1993, says:

The downfall of President Siad Barre on 27 January 1991 resulted in a power struggle and clan clashes in many parts of Somalia. In November, the most intense fighting since January broke out in the capital Mogadishu, between two factions - one supporting interim President Ali Mahdi Mohamed and the other supporting the Chairman of the United Somali Congress, General Mohamed Farah Aided. Since then, fighting persisted in Mogadishu and spread throughout Somalia, with heavily armed elements controlling various parts of the country. Some declared alliance with one or the other of the two factions, while others have not. Numerous marauding groups of bandits added to the problem.

An article entitled  “Crisis in Somalia,” published in the booklet Blue Helmets - A Review of United Nations Peacekeeping adds in part:

The United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM I) was set up to facilitate humanitarian aid to people trapped by civil war and famine. The mission developed into a broad attempt to help stop the conflict and reconstitute the basic institutions of a viable State.

General Mohamed Farah Aideed

From November 1991, there was heavy fighting in the Somali capital of Mogadishu between armed elements allied to General Mohamed Farah Aideed, or to Mr. Ali Mohamed Mahdi, the appointed "interim President," and yet other factions. In addition to Mogadishu, there was conflict in Kismayo, and in the northwest, local leaders were pushing to create an independent "Somaliland". The country as a whole was without any form of central government. Banditry was rife.

The fighting that followed, with clans and sub-clans constituted in loose alliances without central control, took place at a time of serious drought. That combination proved disastrous for the population at large. By 1992, almost 4.5 million people, more than half the total number in the country, faced starvation, severe malnutrition and related diseases. The magnitude of suffering was immense. Overall, an estimated 300,000 people, including many children, died. Some 2 million people, violently displaced from their home areas, fled either to neighboring countries or elsewhere within Somalia. All institutions of governance and at least 60 per cent of the country's basic infrastructure disintegrated.

Meanwhile, conditions within Somalia continued to deteriorate for the great majority of its people. In resolution 767(1992) of 27 July 1992, the Security Council approved the proposal to establish four operational zones - Berbera, Bossasso, Mogadishu and Kismayo - and strongly endorsed sending a technical team to Somalia. On 24 August 1992, the Secretary-General requested an increase in the authorized strength of UNOSOM to create the four operational zones. For each zone, UNOSOM would receive a military unit of 750 personnel. The total strength of United Nations security personnel envisaged for Somalia thus rose to 3,500. On 28 August, the Security Council, by resolution 775 (1992), authorized the increase. On 8 September, it agreed to a further addition of three logistical units, raising the total authorized strength of UNOSOM to 4,219 troops and 50 military observers. The first group of security personnel arrived in Mogadishu on 14 September 1992.

Somali “technicals” armed vehicles

Implementing the program proved difficult. Continuing disagreements among Somali factions on the United Nations role made the countrywide and more effective deployment of UNOSOM impossible. On 28 October, General Mohamed Farah Aideed declared that the Pakistani UNOSOM battalion must leave Mogadishu. He also ordered the expulsion within 48 hours of the UNOSOM Coordinator for Humanitarian Assistance. Subsequently, General Mohamed Farah Aideed's forces shelled and shot at UNOSOM forces controlling the airport, and Mr. Ali Mohamed Mahdi's forces shelled ships carrying food as they attempted to enter Mogadishu port. General Aideed objected to United Nations control of the airport; Mr. Ali Mohamed Mahdi wanted UNOSOM to take full control of the port. On 13 November, after coming under machine-gun, rifle and mortar fire, the Pakistani troops controlling the airport returned fire. In the absence of a government capable of maintaining law and order, relief organizations experienced increased hijacking of vehicles, looting of convoys and warehouses, and detention of expatriate staff.

The N.Y. Times of 2 January 1993 discusses the warlords:

General Aideed controls most of southern Somalia, including a large part of Mogadishu, while Mr. Ali Mahdi presides over northern Mogadishu…other key figures include General Mohammed Said Hersi Morgan who controls the town of Bardera, and Colonel Omar Jess, who controls Kismayu.

On 3 December 1992, the Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 794. The Council welcomed the United States offer to help create a secure environment for the delivery of humanitarian aid in Somalia and authorized, under Chapter VII of the Charter, the use of "all necessary means" to do so. United States President George Bush responded to Security Council resolution 794 with a decision on 4 December to initiate Operation Restore Hope, under which the United States would assume the unified command.

We should point out that before the actual start of military operations in Somalia the United States had tried to quietly feed the people using civilian agencies. This is discussed in the booklet, U.S. Army in Somalia 1992-1994. It says:

In response to the worsening famine, the United States decided to assist the relief efforts by airlifting food from nearby Kenya to remote airfields in the interior of Somalia for distribution, thus bypassing congested ports and reducing the need to send out easily looted convoys. For this purpose, the United States launched Operation PROVIDE RELIEF on 15 August 1992. The actual ground distribution continued to be accomplished by the international relief organizations already established in the country. PROVIDE RELIEF was thus a limited attempt to use U.S. expertise in logistics to help the relief effort without engaging American military forces on the ground.

Problems of distribution within the country continued to hamper the relief effort. In the countryside, lawless gangs seized relief supplies and used them to buy local loyalties while letting thousands starve. In the cities, the warring political factions, supported by their private armies, amassed food stockpiles as bargaining chips and signs of their power. These rival entities, often barely controlled by their clan leaders, terrorized the international organizations, stealing food and killing whoever did not pay protection money.

The first elements of the Unified Task Force (UNITAF) came ashore on the beaches of Mogadishu without opposition on 9 December 1992. The first PSYOP soldiers deployed from Fort Bragg to Mombasa, Kenya, where they joined the U.S. 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard the USS Tripoli. They accompanied the initial Marine landing at Mogadishu. 1,300 marines flew by helicopter directly to Mogadishu airport. Navy Seals landed quietly and stealthily in the dark before dawn and were immediately blinded by the blazing lights of television crews who had been told of their arrival. The U.S. Army component of UNITAF was Task Force Mountain. TF Mountain was built around the 2d Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, and at its peak consisted of approximately 10,000 soldiers including two infantry battalions, an aviation brigade, and division artillery and support assets. While conventional forces concentrated on major cities and regions, U.S. Special Operations Forces moved quickly to establish a presence in the rest of the countryside, place liaison cells with allied forces, and conduct civil affairs and psychological operations.

Over the next several weeks, eight tactical PSYOP teams accompanied UNITAF ground forces as they deployed throughout central and southern Somalia to secure relief convoys and to promote stability. On 13 December, United States forces had secured the airfield at Baledogle, and by 16 December, they had seized Baidoa. The number of United States forces would rise to approximately 28,000 personnel, augmented by some 17,000 UNITAF troops from over 20 countries.

On 3 March 1993, the Secretary-General submitted to the Security Council his recommendations for effecting the transition from UNITAF to UNOSOM II. He indicated that since the adoption of Council resolution 794 in December 1992, UNITAF had deployed approximately 37,000 troops in southern and central Somalia, covering approximately 40 per cent of the country's territory. The presence and operations of UNITAF had a positive impact on the security situation in Somalia and on the effective delivery of humanitarian assistance. However, despite the improvement, incidents of violence continued. There was still no effective functioning government in the country, no organized civilian police and no disciplined national army.

The Security Council established UNOSOM II by resolution 814 on 26 March 1993. UNOSOM II took over from UNITAF in May 1993 and ended March 1995. It consisted of approximately 28,000 military and police personnel; there was also a provision for some 2,800 international and locally recruited staff. UNOSOM II was to complete, through disarmament and reconciliation, the task begun by UNITAF for the restoration of peace, stability, law and order. UNOSOM II was also entrusted with assisting the Somali people in rebuilding their economy and social and political life, re-establishing the country's institutional structure, achieving national political reconciliation, recreating a Somali State based on democratic governance and rehabilitating the country's economy and infrastructure. 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.

PSYOP in Somalia

Looking at my own notes from 1992-1993, I see under “General Information” the following comments:

“UNOSOM was established 24 April 1992 to monitor the cease-fire, provide security, and escort humanitarian supplies to distribution centers. There were about 3,500 UN troops originally assigned. An additional 3,500 troops joined the force in August 1992 to protect convoys and distribution centers.

The United Nations authorized UNITAF on 3 December 1992. The United States led it with about 28,000 troops. Operation Restore Hope originated 9 December 1992. Another 20 nations would send troops for a total force of about 37,000 peacekeepers. The mission was to ‘use all force necessary to establish a secure environment.’

The United Nations authorized UNOSOM II on 3 March 1993. It was the first peacekeeping operation authorized to use force. The mission was to effect a political reconciliation and transfer of power to a civilian institution. The first force commander was Lieutenant General Cevik Bir of Turkey. The manpower was about 20,000 combat troops, 8,000 logistical troops, and 2,800 civilians.

The United Task Force Somalia (UNITAF) disseminated 37 leaflets between 9 December 1992 and 4 May 1993.

U.S. Army in Somalia 1992-1994 adds:

Turkish Lieutenant General Cevik Bir was appointed commander of the UNOSOM II force, with U.S. Army Major General Thomas M. Montgomery as his deputy. General Montgomery also retained his position as commander of U.S. Forces in Somalia Thus the U.S. forces retained their own national chain of command while inserting themselves into the UN structure. By October 1993 UNOSOM II consisted of over 16,000 peacekeepers from 21 nations. This number would jump to 29,732 soldiers from 29 nations by mid-November with the arrival of over 17,000 additional U.S. personnel as part of a U.S. joint task force.

The 4th PSYOP Group published a book entitled Psychological Operations in Support of Operation Restore Hope in late 1993. It gives background on the early aspects of the operations:

PSYOP was a key Battlefield Operating System used extensively to support UNITAF operations.  In order to maximize the PSYOP impact, we established a Joint PSYOP Task Force (JPOTF) under the supervision of the director of operations, and limited the PSYOP focus to the operational and tactical levels.

The JPOTF was comprised of approximately 125 members of the U.S. Army’s 4th PSYOP Group, and several of its subordinate battalions, the 8th (command and control), the 9th, (a tactical loudspeaker battalion), the PSYOP Dissemination Battalion and one U.S. Navy sailor and a dozen Somali linguists. The JPOTF worked with coalition forces, senior U.S. and U.N. civilians, and nongovernmental and private volunteer organizations. The JPOTF designed, produced and disseminated thirty-seven different leaflets; large numbers of more than a dozen different handbills and posters; issued 116 editions of a Somali language UNITAF newspaper RAJO (Hope) with as many as 25,000 copies printed and distributed daily to every town and village where UNITAF forces were deployed; transmitted radio broadcasts twice daily; produced and disseminated more than seven million leaflets over central and southern Somalia; deployed tactical PSYOP teams with the coalition forces; and provided advice to the U.S. special envoy, Ambassador Robert Oakley and his staff.

A detachment of the 9th PSYOP Battalion was attached to the 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division. The arrangement is described by Captain James C. Boisselle in an article entitled "Detachment B910 in Operation Restore Hope: Operations and Lesson Learned," in Perspectives - the Journal of the Psychological Operations Association, spring 1994. Some of CPT Boisselle's comments are: 

The mission was to plan, coordinate, and execute PSYOP in support of the 2nd Brigade of the United Task Force campaign plan. The Brigade's initial focus was combat operations such as reaction to ambush, raid cordon and search...initially the role of tactical PSYOP in support of these operations was straight forward; induce surrender, deter resistance, and prevent civilian interference.

A day or two before the arrival of forces, the PSYOP plan was executed. This usually consisted of a leaflet drop explaining certain 'rules' and face-to-face messages conveying the US forces' operations. Once an area had been stabilized and relief supplies were again moving, Detachment B910 conducted follow-up assessments and developed programs to help achieve PSYOP objectives.

I should point out that the story does not end with the UNITAF leaflets. When UNOSOM II took over for UNITAF, they produced another entire series of leaflets, even more extensive than the UNITAF series. 

The PsyWar Society published a booklet in April 1995 entitled Illustrated Catalogue of UNITAF Aerial Leaflets used in Support of Operation Restore Hope, Somalia, 9 December 1992 – 4 May 1993. As I gathered the leaflets, I numbered them 1 through 37. The booklet numbered them with the prefix PSN followed by S1, S2, etc. I will use their codes simply because it is easier for the reader to follow a published reference. Unfortunately, the leaflets are uncoded so any numbering system is completely arbitrary.

United States Marines CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters dropped the first two leaflets (S1 and S2) over Mogadishu on 9 December. Because of small arms fire, the initial drops were from 1,000-5,000 feet. Later drops were from 500-1,000 feet. United States Air Force C-130 Hercules also dropped leaflets on Somalia. The leaflets were initially printed at Fort Bragg, NC, on the 4th PSYOP Group’s Heidelberg print presses. The leaflets are discussed in detail by LTC Charles P. Borchini in a Special Warfare article entitled “PSYOP in Somalia – The Voice of Hope.” He says:

The initial landing of U.S. forces in Mogadishu on 9 December was preceded by a drop of approximately 220,000 leaflets from a U.S. Marine CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopter. This operation used two kinds of leaflets to announce the arrival of U.S. forces and to alert inhabitants of the need for convoy-security missions. The “handshake” leaflet communicated the basic message that the intent of the mission was to assist, not harm Somalis; the convoy security leaflet stressed that coalition troops would use force to protect the relief shipments. These three-by-six-inch leaflets had been printed at Fort Bragg by the 4th PSYOP Group.

Throughout the operation, PSYOP teams, using U.S. C-130s, U.S. Marine CH-53s, U.S. Army UH-60s and UH-1s, and a Canadian C-130, continued to drop the two leaflets along major supply routes. The handshake leaflets were dropped two or three days prior to the arrival of UNITAF forces in each town; the convoy leaflets were dropped two or three days afterward. During one operation, PSYOP teams used U.S. Navy S-3 Viking fixed-wing aircraft to jettison 60 canisters, each carrying 2,500 leaflets, over the target area. With the gradual redeployment of U.S. C-130s, leaflet missions were also conducted from New Zealand "Andovers," a smaller version of the DC-3.

Convoy Leaflet

The very first leaflet clearly shows the intent of the United Nations resolution. It depicts a military food convoy protected by armed high mobility multipurpose-wheeled vehicles (Humvees) and helicopters. Happy Somalis wave at the convoy. There are numerous ways to interpret and translate the Somali language. I will use that translation that seems to best fit the intent of the leaflet. Text on the front is, “We are here to protect relief convoys! Do not block the roads.” The back depicts a UN symbol, an American flag, and the text “Our forces are here to defend the people helping you Do not get involved in any manner. Do not block the roads! Force will be used to protect the convoys.”

A young Somali boy holding the handshake leaflet

Handshake Leaflet

To be continued

Source : http://www.psywarrior.com/SomaliaHerb.html