Thursday, October 3, 2013

Mohamed Farrah Aidid

In "Black Hawk Down," The Rangers were after a man named Mohamed Farah Aidid. We didn't really know his background except that he was a Somalian warlord and that U.N. and U.S. troops were trying to capture him. In the movie a lot was left out about the Somalian like where he was from, what he did, how he was the leader of a powerful Somali clan, and how he became such a big name to everyone in Africa.
Aidid was born in a country called Beledweyne in 1934. According to Wikipedia he was educated in Moscow and Rome and later joined Somali National Army. In the year of 1969 he was the Army chief of Staff during the time the second President was assassinated. Aidid was detained for six years and released to fight in the war against Ethiopia in 1977. Aidid later served in the new President's Cabinet as Somalia's Ambassador.
In the 1980's, the leader of Habr Gidir, Aidid competed for the power against Ali Mahdi Mohamed after the outbreak of civil war. During this time the U.N peacekeeping coalition started the two-year United Nations Operation in Somalia. This invasion of the U.N. and U.S. troop felt like a threat towards Aidid and many others competing for power during the time. Aidid's fighters caused the Battle of Mogadishu. An attempt to capture Aidid in 1993 which ended with 1'500 Somalians and 18 Americans killed. After Clinton called his troops back, Aidid declared hisself as President of Somalia, but his declaration was unrecognized due to the fact that his rival Ali Mahdi Muhammad was elected as President at a conference in Djibouti.
According to Wikipedia, on July 24, 1996, Aidid and his men clashed with the forces of former allies Ali Mahdi Muhammad and Osman Ali Atto. Aidid suffered a gunshot wound in the ensuing battle. He later died from a heart attack on August 1, either during or after surgery to treat his injuries.
The actions that Aidid made to obtain power, would you consider him as another Hitler?

1 comment:

  1. I'm not exactly sure what your argument was. But this is very interesting to know the back story on Aidid. I don't think he was necessarily another Hitler. Aidid didn't go to the extents Hitler did. Aidid was a terrible person who did horrible things. I don't think he had as much over-all power as Hitler did.

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