Thread by @DefenseNigeria

HISTORY that deserves to be REMEMBERED !!

It may surprise you to know that during the Somalia civil war of 93, the country most hated by Somali militants was not the United States but Nigeria.

Somalia was embroiled in a genocidal civil war, with starvation killing faster than bullets. Over 100,000 people died from starvation alone.

It was so bad that militants resorted to killing aid workers and stealing food meant for the starving civilian population. It got to a point Somalia's neighbours could no longer support the fleeing refugees as the conflict threatened to spread across

..the entire region. The first country in Africa to send troops to Somalia was Nigeria. While the UN was working on a 40 Nation peacekeeping force, Nigerian troops were already in Somalia. By the time the UN peaekeepers hit the ground in Somalia Nigerian soldiers had developed

..a fearful reputation. A reputation that did not end with the arrival of a UN peacekeepers. Nigerian soldiers became priority target for Somali militants. Captured Nigerian soldiers were subjected to horrendous torture.

In return Nigerian troops would mercilessly hunted down the militants, often times independent of the UN mission.which only fuelled more intense hatred for Nigerians..and so the loops continued.

..In one instance U.S Marines on foot patrol near the Embassy walked right into an ambush. Pinned down by heavy fire, the marines sent a distress call. Italian troops manning a checkpoint less than

a kilometre away abandoned their posts. When word of the ambush got out, Nigerian troops stationed more than two miles away sprinted on foot to the area. They covered that distance in less than 30 mins, taken the militants by surprise and laid down heavy machine gun fire

..wish such ferocity U.S Embassy officials complained about the trigger Nigerians as bullets hit the embassy compound. The militants retreated and the Marines lived to fight another day. An angry Nigerian commander made a report accusing the Italians of corwadice.

Contemplate the level of hatred it takes for waring militants to band together against a single target, Nigerian peacekeepers. That was what happened in September 1993 when Nigerian troops, moving into Italian positions in southern Mogadishu were ambushed in a pre-dawn attack.

Dozens of militants overran their position firing mortars from both sides of the street as Nigerian troops were arriving a checkpoint to replace Italian peacekeepers.

Once again the Italians fled, leaving the Nigerians behind. In an ironic twist of fate, unpon learning of the attack, U.S. Marines in helicopters responded by attacking the Somali mortar positon..

..but by then it was too late. They did some gruesome, horrendous things to the Nigerians. Seven Nigerian troops were killed. In the firefight. Those were the lucky ones. Others were beaten to death by an angry mob.

Again an angry commander of the Nigerian army in Somalia, Col. Ola Oyinlola accused the Italians of making separate deals with a militant leader Aidid, as a means of forestalling attacks on Italian troops and accuse the Italians in the area of standing by as Nigerian

soldiers arriving at the checkpoint were being cut down by a torrent of automatic weapons fire. To quote Col Oyinlola

QUOTE

They deliberately left our troops alone. There is no doubt about it. They were stationed near the ambush site yet refused to open fire to assist the

our troops, and at one point in the firefight they even asked our beleaguered troops to move away from an Italian armored vehicle so as not to draw fire to it.

END QUOTE.

One " unlucky" Nigerian soldier was taken prisoner. He was the unluckiest man on earth at that point. He had his legs broken so he could not escape. Stripped naked, chained to a table and bound hand to leg in pitch darkness, he was tortured every night for one month.

He were kept in that position, sitting on his own excrement for one month. Little food, no shower, festering sores. He was probably sure he were never gonna make it out alive....

But the Americans never forget.

After the attack the U.S deployed a 400 member Ranger unit to look for the captured Nigerian soldier and put a $50,000 bounty on the head of the leader of the militants, Aidid.

It took five weeks.

In October 1993 U.S Marines on two Black hawk helicopters came to their rescue, along with the Red Cross.

In 2010 the UN asked Nigeria to deploy troops to Somalia. An angry Nigerian minister for foreign affairs Ojo Madueke said there is no peace to keep in Somalia and that any claims by some countries that they are going to restore peace and security in Somalia are insincere lol.

QUOTE

Where is the peace that they are talking about? The fighting is still ongoing and we do not see any peace that we can send our forces to keep. Some of our military officers have gone to Mogadishu and failed to see a single place that was peaceful.

We do not therefore know of this peace that is being spoken of that needs to be kept,” Maduekwe told to Ugandan and Ethiopian minsters on the sideline of African Union summit in Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

END QUOTE