In 1992, Howe was selected by the Clinton Administration to head UNOSOM II - the UN operation in Somalia that took over from the US in May in what was described by one American official as "the miscasting of the century."[3] In this capacity he came under criticism for hiding away from the action in his fortified bunker,[7][3] and for his pursuit of Somali military leader Mohamed Farrah Aidid, which was called a "personal vendetta."[7]
On July 12, 1993, Howe oversaw the event Somalis call Bloody Monday.[3] According to American war correspondent Scott Peterson a group of Somali elders had gathered at a house to discuss a way to make peace to end the violence between Somali militias and the UN forces.[3] The gathering had been publicized in Somali newspapers the day before the attack as a peace gathering.[3] After being tipped off by an undercover operative, American Cobra attack helicopters launched TOW missiles and 20 mm caliber cannon fire at the structure.[3] According to a Somali survivor, American ground troops killed 15 survivors at close range with pistols, a charge American commanders deny.[3] According to the International Committee of the Red Cross there were over 200 Somali casualties.[2] Four Western journalists were killed at the scene by Somalis following the attacks.[3]
Howe claimed that the mission took out a "very key terrorist planning cell" and that no civilians were killed. He stated "we knew what we were hitting. It was well planned."[3] The event is considered a turning point in the war as Somalis turned from wanting peace to wanting revenge, ultimately leading to the Black Hawk Down Incident.[2]Human Rights Watch declared that the attack "looked like mass murder."[9]
Personal life
Howe is author of the 1971 book Multicrises: Seapower and Global Politics in the Missile Age.[10]
^ abcdefghijPeterson, Scott (2000). Me against my brother : at war in Somalia, Sudan, and Rwanda : a journalist reports from the battlefields of Africa. New York: Routledge. ISBN0415921988. OCLC43287853.
