Bloody Monday raid

Bloody Monday raid (Operation Michigan)
Part of UNOSOM II
Sign at an anti American protest in Mogadishu depicting the "Abdi House" raid or "Bloody Monday" attack
Sign at anti-UNOSOM protest in Mogadishu depicting 'Bloody Monday'
TypeAir strike and Air assault
Location
Hodan District, Mogadishu, Somalia
Commanded byThomas M. Montgomery
ObjectiveKill or capture of SNA leadership
DateJuly 12, 1993 (1993-07-12)
10:18am – 10:35 (UTC+03:00)
Executed by1st Bn, 22nd Infantry and 41st Bn Engineer of 10th Mountain Division, on behalf of UNOSOM II[1]
Outcome
  • Significant casualties among Habar Gidir and other Somali National Alliance affiliated clans, leading to increased popular support for Aidid
  • Heightened anti-UN sentiment and escalated attacks on UNOSOM forces
  • Widespread international condemnation of the raid
  • Increased apprehension among UNOSOM II coalition members about the raid's provocative nature
CasualtiesUN forces casualties - none
Somali casualties:
  • UNOSOM II claim - 7 to 20 killed (All male combatants)
  • Red Cross claim - 215 casualties, including 54 killed
  • Habar Gidir and SNA claim - 273 casualties, including 73 killed (women and children among deceased)
Foreign journalists - 4 killed by mob after the raid[2]

The Bloody Monday raid (Somali: Isniinta Dhiigii), also known as the Abdi House raid or Operation Michigan, was a US military operation[3] that took place in Mogadishu on 12 July 1993, during the United Nations Operation in Somalia II (UNOSOM II) phase of the UN intervention in the Somali Civil War.[4][5] Carried out by American QRF troops on behalf of UNOSOM II, the raid was the war's deadliest incident in Mogadishu to that point and a turning point in the UN operation.[6][7] It inflamed anti-UN and anti-American sentiments among Somalis, galvanizing the insurgency that the US military faced during the Battle of Mogadishu three months later.[8][9][10][7]

As part of the hunt for General Mohammed Farah Aidid after the attack on Pakistani peacekeepers on 5 June 1993, U.S. forces conducted a 17-minute raid on a villa owned by Aidid's Interior Minister, Abdi "Qeybdiid" Awale.[11][12][13] The villa was hosting a gathering attended by high-ranking elders of the Habar Gidir and other major subclans, along with prominent members of the Aidid-led Somali National Alliance (SNA).[14][15][7]

UNOSOM II claimed that the gathering was a war council composed of hardliners taking place at an SNA command center, making it a legitimate military target,[15][16] but never produced evidence to justify its claims.[17][18][19] In contrast, Somali accounts of the raid maintain that the meeting was a peace conference in which eminent elders, SNA moderates, and civilians convened to discuss a proposed diplomatic resolution to the escalating conflict between the SNA and UNOSOM II.[20][21][7][17] The 12 July operation was heavily criticized by the UNOSOM II Justice Division,[22][23] Doctors Without Borders,[21] Human Rights Watch,[18] Amnesty International,[17] and the Organization of African Unity.[24]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference 22nd inf was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ UN and Somalia 1992-1996, p. 404.
  3. ^ Kaempf 2018, p. 116: "The raid was a unilateral US operation approved up the American chain of command to the White House. Montgomery said, 'this operation was a US operation, approved at the very highest levels in Washington before being executed'"
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference :8 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Richburg, Keith B. (6 December 1993). "In War on Aideed, U.N. Battled Itself". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on 6 August 2022. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
  6. ^ Peterson 2000, p. 132.
  7. ^ a b c d Pouligny 2006, p. 179.
  8. ^ Peterson 2000, p. 125-126.
  9. ^ Hirsch, John L.; Oakley, Robert B. (1995). Somalia and Operation Restore Hope : reflections on peacemaking and peacekeeping. Washington, D.C. ISBN 1-878379-41-0. OCLC 32200261.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  10. ^ Murphy, Ray (2007). UN peacekeeping in Lebanon, Somalia and Kosovo : operational and legal issues in practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 191–193. ISBN 978-0-511-28668-1. OCLC 644180443.
  11. ^ Richburg, Keith B. (5 August 1993). "U.N. Report Criticizes Military Tactics of Somalia Peace Keepers". The Washington Post. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  12. ^ Bowden, Mark. "A Wrong Turn In Somalia-- An Ill-Conceived Copter Raid Turned Many Somalis Against U.S. Forces". The Seattle Times. The Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on 27 October 2021.
  13. ^ Wheeler, Nicholas (2000). Saving Strangers: Humanitarian Intervention in International Society. Oxford University Press. p. 197. ISBN 0-19-829621-5.
  14. ^ UN and Somalia 1992-1996, p. 330.
  15. ^ a b Kaempf 2018, p. 137.
  16. ^ US forces, Somalia AAR 2003, p. 132.
  17. ^ a b c SOMALIA: Building human rights in the disintegrated state (PDF). Amnesty International. November 1995. p. 6.
  18. ^ a b SOMALIA FACES THE FUTURE - HUMAN RIGHTS IN A FRAGMENTED SOCIETY (PDF). Human Rights Watch. April 1995. pp. 98–101.
  19. ^ Peterson 2000, p. 130.
  20. ^ Peterson 2000, p. 118.
  21. ^ a b Binet, Laurence (2013). Somalia 1991-1993: Civil War, Famine Alert and a UN "Military-Humanitarian" Intervention (PDF). Médecins Sans Frontières. pp. 191–192.
  22. ^ "U.N. raid on villa criticized". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Associated Press. 7 August 1993. pp. 12a.
  23. ^ Cite error: The named reference daily beast was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  24. ^ Cite error: The named reference :12 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).