The U.N. intervention in Somalia sabotaged political reconciliation by taking sides among clans, the warlord who battled American troops during the mission said Friday.
Gen. Mohamed Farrah Aidid, speaking to reporters from his rebuilt residence in Mogadishu that was bombarded by U.S. forces in June 1993, hailed the departure Thursday of the last foreign troops from Somalia.Aidid, who claimed 13,000 Somalis had been killed by U.N. peacekeepers, again predicted that with the departure of the United Nations military mission, a representative government would soon emerge from the conference he has been holding with allied clan leaders.
"I read the charter of the United Nations and the intervention in Somalia was unjustifiable," Aidid said.
On Thursday, Marines escorted the last U.N. peacekeepers from Mogadishu's shores, ending a two-year, $2 billion intervention that halted the starvation which, along with war and disease, killed 350,000 Somalis in 1992. More than 100 peacekeepers and 42 American troops died during the operation.
But the mission did not establish the bases for long-term stability. In November, the U.N. Security Council ordered the withdrawal of all U.N. troops because the Somalis had not made any progress on political reconciliation.
U.S. Marines landed Monday to protect the evacuation of 2,400 Pakistani and Bangladeshi peacekeepers, the last in a multinational force that once totaled 38,000 troops from 21 countries.
The 1,500 American and 350 Italian Marines who came ashore to cover the withdrawal returned to their ships Friday, and the Pentagon said no American ships or aircraft would remain in the area.
During the final withdrawal, the Marines exchanged fire with Somali gunmen several times.