SOMALIA: TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF "BLACKHAWK DOWN" WHEN A U.S. MILITARY HELICOPTER WAS SHOT DOWN IN MOGADISHU
Record ID:
647259
SOMALIA: TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF "BLACKHAWK DOWN" WHEN A U.S. MILITARY HELICOPTER WAS SHOT DOWN IN MOGADISHU
- Title: SOMALIA: TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF "BLACKHAWK DOWN" WHEN A U.S. MILITARY HELICOPTER WAS SHOT DOWN IN MOGADISHU
- Date: 1st October 2003
- Summary: (W4) MOGADISHU, SOMALIA (RECENT) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WS: DESTROYED BUILDINGS IN SOMALI CAPITAL MOGADISHU. 0.03 2. WS: MAN WALKING PAST SITE WHERE AMERICAN BLACKHAWK HELICOPTER CRASHED 0.09 3. VARIOUS: VIEWS OF REMAINS OF THE BLACKHAWK HELICOPTER IN STREET, HIDDEN BY CACTUS GROVE. (6 SHOTS) 0.36 4. MV/SCU: MOGADISHU STREET SCENES, PEOPLE MILLING AROUND. 0.44 5. WS/MV: COMMUNITY POLICE PREPARE TO GO ON PATROL, CU: OF MACHINEGUN. (3 SHOTS) 0.57 6. VARIOUS: OF COMMUNITY POLICE OUT ON PATROL IN MOGADISHU. (2 SHOTS) 1.09 7. SCU: (SOUNDBITE)(Somali) COMMUNITY ELDER, MOHAMUD AFRAH WEHELIYE SAYING: "The political factions cannot come to us because we have a force to defend ourselves and we do not respect them. We do not obey them and we do not support them we are an independent civic society who lives around here who have a right to defend children, our women and make sure they do not take the things they have. We will never obey and support any political faction and they are aware that they have no power to come and interfere with our activities. We consist all different clans and we have adopted with each other together for common peace." 1.53 8. MV: PEOPLE ENTERING THE ELMAN VOCATIONAL TRAINING CENTRE. 1.59 9. VARIOUS: OF DEMOBILISED CHILD SOLDIERS GOING TO CLASSES. (6 SHOTS) 2.30 10. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Somali) DEMOBILISED CHILD SOLDIER, MOHAMMED ALI SAYING: "The only thing I learnt was how to carry a gun, how to shoot, how to kill people and loot and how to kidnap people that is the only thing I learnt from the militia's group that I was working with." 2.37 11. MV: DEMOBILISED CHILD SOLDIERS GOING OUT FOR A GROUP DISCUSSION. 2.42 12. CU: SIGN ON WALL READING "PUT THE GUN TAKE A PEN" 2.46 13. MV: DEMOBILISED CHILDREN IN A GROUP DISCUSSION. 2.50 14. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNICEF CHILD PROGRAMME OFFICER, ABDULLAHI EYOW SAYING: "These children have committed hideous crimes and being accepted back into the community is going to be very difficult but now we are trying to work through out with the community working with the families to accept these children once they go under this rehabilitation program." 3.17 (W4) MOGADISHU, SOMALIA (1993 FILE)(REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 15. CU: AIDEED "WANTED" POSTER. 3.20 16. LV: OF AMERICAN HELICOPTERS FLYING OVER BUILDINGS. 3.23 17. CU: AMERICAN SOLDIERS FIGHTING WITH THE SOMALI GUNMEN. 3.25 18. BUILDING UNDER FIRE FROM THE AMERICAN HELICOPTER. (3 SHOTS) 3.33 19. LAS/LV: HELICOPTER IN THE DISTANCE. 3.34 20. BURNING ARMOURED VEHICLE IN STREET. 3.35 21. CU: CRASHED AMERICAN BLACKHAWK HELICOPTER WHICH WAS SHOT DOWN. 3.39 22. CU: INJURED MAN BEING CARRIED THROUGH THE STREETS. 3.40 23. CU: DEAD AMERICAN SOLDIER BEING DRAGGED ON THE STREETS OF MOGADISHU. 3.44 24. CU/LAS: AMERICAN HELICOPTER FLYING OVERHEAD. 3.49 25. SCU: TWO AMERICAN SOLDIERS WITH U.S. FLAG. 3.51 26. SCU: CROWD TEARING AMERICAN FLAG TO PIECES AND ONE MAN STUFFING REMAINS INTO HIS MOUTH. 4.00 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 16th October 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: MOGADISHU, SOMALIA
- Country: Somalia
- Reuters ID: LVA2Y9DADEPWTJV1A7344OCAAXKT
- Story Text: October 3 marks the 10th year anniversary of
"Blackhawk down" in Somalia
As the U.S. military finds itself in a quagmire in
Iraq, policymakers may recall a decisive battle ten years
ago that marked a turning point in the U.S. operations in
Somalia and eventually led to a withdrawal. The battle on
October 3rd came to be known as "blackhawk Down" after a
downed U.S military helicopter.
The twisted remains of a Blackhawk helicopter lie in a
dusty street in Mogadishu -- twisted metal parts half
hidden by cactus.
This was the battleground in the early 90's where
Somali militiamen turned their guns on each other after
ousting dictator Mohammed Siad Barre. For months rival
militias pounded each other and large parts of the capital
Mogadsishu to bits as they sought supremacy. They
eventually settled for a divided city North and South
Mogadishu - and the rubble leftover from their fighting
became the dividing line referred to as the "Greenline".
For years the country underwent stages of deterioration
which prompted a U.S.-led United Nations intervention in
1991 - but the operation ran into serious trouble as
militias led by warlords resisted U.S. occupation.
Now in some parts of the Somali capital residents are
slowly attempting to restore security and a sense on
normalcy.
Clad in wraparound skirts and flip-flops, 10 Somali
gunmen cradling assault rifles parade for inspection before
their evening patrol of a Mogadishu district. They are a
local security force and they aim to protect their families
and property from armed gangs which operate at night.
"The political factions cannot come to us because we
have a force to defend ourselves and we do not respect
them. We do not obey them and we do not support them we are
an independent civic society who lives around here who have
a right to defend children, our women and make sure they do
not take the things they have. We will never obey and
support any political faction and they are aware that they
have no power to come and interfere with our activities. We
consist all different clans and we have adopted with each
other together for common peace," says former army captain
Mohamud Afrah Weheliye.
Weheliye's men are part of a trend towards self-help
policing in Mogadishu, the city that buried America's
post-Cold War enthusiasm for international peace operations
a decade ago. Neighbourhood patrols by gunmen answerable to
local elders
and Islamic courts rather than militia bosses have sprung
up in the past year in the lawless capital of about one
million people.
The self-help operations are not just limited to
policing - here former child soldier are learning to use a
different kind of weapon - the pen. With help from UNICEF,
the Elman center is concentrating on reforming former child
soldiers to enable them be rehabilitated back into society.
"The only thing I learnt was how to carry a gun, how to
shoot, how to kill people and loot and how to kidnap people
that is the only thing I learnt from the militia's group
that I was working with." said Mohammed Ali a former child
soldier now demobilised.
Apart from normal schooling, the children undergo
different counselling sessions and group discussions to try
and prise out the horrors that they have undergone and that
they still continue to see on the streets of the chaotic
capital on a daily basis.
"These children have committed heinous crimes and being
accepted back into the community is going to be very
difficult but now we are trying to work through out with
the community working with the families to accept these
children once they go under this rehabilitation program,"
says UNICEF programme officer Abdullahi Eyow, who is
dealing with the project.
The growth of "Do-It-Yourself" programmes puts in
question the clout of warlords whose lust for power over
the city triumphed 10 years ago on Friday , when the might
of the U.S. military was humiliated in a battle recalled in
the Hollywood film "Black Hawk Down".
The firefight on October 3, 1993 resulted in the of 18
U.S. special forces supporting a U.N. force called UNOSOM
II. More than 1,000 Somalis and two U.N. troops, a
Malaysian and Morocan, also died in the failed U.S. bid to
seize warlord Mohammed Farah Aideed.
Pictures of dead U.S soldiers being dragged through the
streets of Mogadishu were broadcast round the world.
U.S. forces were gone within a year of the battle.
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None