Australian Force Somalia 1992-1993

In 1992, civil war, drought and economic collapse left four million Somalis destitute, displaced and starving. Twenty-six nations sent their young men and women to make sure that food reached those who needed it. Australia joined the international ‘coalition of the willing’ with the Australian Force Somalia comprised of a 1,000-strong battalion group. Opposing the US-led Unified Task Force were Somali warlords and their militia armies that had been pillaging humanitarian aid and terrorising the Somali population during a bloody civil war. Australian Army units will serve in troubled parts of the world in the future. The lessons learned from the ‘unforgiving school of trial and error’ in Somalia in 1992/93 will be invaluable.

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