Somalia Affair

The Somalia Affair was a 1993 military scandal later dubbed "Canada's national shame". It peaked with the beating to death of a Somali teenager at the hands of two Canadian soldiers participating in humanitarian efforts in Somalia. The act, documented by grisly photos, shocked the Canadian public and brought to light internal problems in the Canadian Airborne Regiment. Military leadership were sharply rebuked after a CBC reporter received altered documents, leading to allegations of a cover-up.

Eventually a public inquiry was called. Despite being controversially cut short by the government, the Somalia Inquiry cited problems in the leadership of the Canadian Forces. The affair led to the disbanding of Canada's elite Canadian Airborne Regiment, greatly damaging the morale of the Canadian Forces, and marring the domestic and international reputation of Canadian soldiers. It also led to the immediate reduction of Canadian military spending by nearly 25% from the time of the killing to the inquiry.

In 1992, Somalia was in the middle of both famine and civil war, and the country was largely embroiled in chaos and domination by warlords, following the collapse of Siad Barre's government. Relief supplies were frequently stolen by armed gangs, who would hold the goods hostage for the loyalty of the population. As a result, the United Nations requested armed peacekeepers to assist the relief operations.

In the summer of 1992, Brian Mulroney committed Canada to United Nations Operation in Somalia I (UNOSOM I). Canada was being pressured to make this decision because in the past it had aggressively engaged in Yugoslavia in 1992 and had reached out to Balkan refugees later that year. The heightened media coverage on Somalia had also put more pressure on the Canadian government to mobilize a peacekeeping effort. Thanks to the Mulroney government’s desire to improve conflict resolution mechanisms and for its natural interest in multilateralism and peacekeeping, Canada found the Somali Civil War to fit its foreign policy priorities. Brian Mulroney was himself a ‘Pearsonian’ and a multilateralist who would have a great deal of confidence in the United Nations. Canadian diplomat Geoffrey Pearson argued that “effective multilateral arrangements provide a means to exert influence on major allies and powerful neighbours as well as help maintain peace”. Mulroney’s notion of new internationalism coupled with this notion of multilateralism would see intervention as a moral imperative in cases of intrastate disorder and large-scale human rights abuse. He commented that it would be ideal for the United Nations to become still more effective and more of an actor in international affairs.

...
Wikipedia