Why did American troops go to Somalia?

Answer 1

From the end of the 1960s until the end of the 1980s, Somalia was ruled by a military dictator. He was finally overthrown by rebels in January 1991. However, the rebels almost immediately started fighting against each other. Two main leaders emerged and fought each other, while a big chunk of the country decided to try to break away. The fighting and destruction also led to a famine, so people were also starving.

The fighting and instability was a threat to the other countries neighboring Somalia, so the UN decided to send military forces to try to help stop the fighting. The US led the operation. The UN also tried to deliver supplies to feed the starving civilians.

However, one of the two Somali leaders, Mohamed Farrah Aidid, continued fighting, and also started attacking the UN forces and stealing the aid supplies. So in October 1993, the US forces decided to try to capture him; the raid on Mogadishu, which was depicted in the movie Black Hawk Down, was part of this. The raid (successfully) tried to capture some of Aidid's associates; however, when the Americans tried to return to their base, they were attacked by large number of Somali civilians, leading to a disastrous and bloody fight.

Due to the results of the raid, the US began withdrawing from Somalia almost immediately; within a few months, the withdrawal was complete. The UN also chose to withdraw. Aidid was never captured, however, he was killed in 1996 by some of his own former allies.