[2] The term was a reference to the external intervention in the Somali Civil War in which several opposing factions engaged in a struggle to seize control of Somalia.
In April 1992, calls for action by UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali prompted the UN Security Council to approve the commencement of humanitarian operations into Somalia, which initially involved a small contingent of UN-approved troops (UNOSOM), followed in December by a US-dominated military force UNITAF.
However, operations turned sour after the Battle of Mogadishu on October 3, 1993, when US forces attempted to launch an attack on the Olympic Hotel in search of Mohamed Farrah Aidid.
After the battle, the bodies of several US casualties of the conflict were dragged through the streets of Mogadishu by crowds of local civilians and members of Aidid's Somali National Alliance.
Fear of a repeat of the events in Somalia shaped US policy in subsequent years, with many commentators identifying the graphic consequences of the Battle of Mogadishu as the key reason behind the US failure to intervene in later conflicts such as the 1994 Rwandan Genocide.