Word: aidid
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...trouble began on Monday when fighters loyal to Mohammed Said Hersi, known as General Morgan, a rival of Aidid's, entered the port town of Kismayu, 250 miles southwest of the capital. Within hours, 30 civilians lay dead...
...Aidid could not let the challenge go unanswered. In a broadcast from his personal radio station in Mogadishu, he charged that the Americans had | engineered Morgan's coup, secretly flying him into Kismayu by helicopter. Next morning, the first day of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, angry mobs jammed the streets of Mogadishu, setting up burning roadblocks of tires and overturned vehicles. Children who had waved happily at passing American troops the day before now hurled chunks of concrete. The next day, the stones turned to bullets and coalition troops fought back...
...bloodshed illustrated just how fragile peace can be. Somalia's warlords, though supposedly disarmed, are still capable of turning bloody at a moment's notice. "Somali people do not care if there is a war or not," said a gray-eyed Aidid loyalist. "If you are a gunman, you can't leave off fighting. That is your...
...suddenly shook from the thunderous roar of a full-scale military assault. For 20 seemingly endless minutes, U.S. forces directed a massive array of firepower from AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters, M1A1 Abrams tanks and amphibious assault vehicles, all aimed at two arsenals controlled by warlord General Mohammed Farrah Aidid in the Somali capital's northwest. The offensive was ostensibly in retaliation for sniper fire at U.S. troops, but the blazing-gun approach carried a clear warning to Somalia's increasingly bold gunmen that they continue to lurk and menace at their peril. Perhaps 21 Somalis were killed...
...Aidid also figured prominently in last week's diplomatic developments. His supporters were widely believed to have organized a stone-throwing demonstration against the visit of United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali to Mogadishu. The warlord was equally obstreperous at the start of a U.N.-sponsored meeting involving no fewer than 14 feuding Somali factions, held in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. But he and other participants eventually agreed to a cease-fire scheduled to take effect this week and a formal "reconciliation conference" in March...