Operation Provide Relief

This effort was assisted by the United Nations Operation in Somalia I (UNOSOM I)[1] mission, in light of a severe food crisis initiated and exacerbated by ongoing factional fighting.

Ten C-130s and 400 people deployed to the Moi International Airport during Operation Provide Relief, airlifting aid to remote areas in Somalia to reduce reliance on truck convoys.

When this proved inadequate to stop the massive death and displacement, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 794 on 3rd December 1992, a major peacekeeping mission which authorized the use of all necessary means to assure a protected environment for conducting humanitarian operations.

[5] After a long and protracted effort, the operation was eventually successful in saving many lives, as well as in de-escalating the high-intensity conflict into low-level, local skirmishes.

The Washington-based Refugee Policy Group NGO in November 1994 suggests that any assessment of the success of Operation Provide Relief is "so fraught with methodological problems that it is rarely attempted."

Rules of Engagement for Operation Provide Relief, 1992.
Eighteen U.S. Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve C-130s flew 20 missions per day from Moi International Airport (Mombasa Airport) to Somalia for Operation Provide Relief.