Peacekeeping· Somalia Intervention (Op RESTORE HOPE)
Baidoa Secured
The securing of Baidoa was one of the inland objectives of Operation Restore Hope, the Marines pushing out from Mogadishu to take control of the town that had been one of the epicenters of the Somali famine, a place so ravaged by starvation it had been called the city of death.
Securing Baidoa and its airstrip was essential to extending the relief effort into the interior, where the famine had hit hardest and where the distribution of food depended on establishing a secure presence. The Marines occupied the town against little organized resistance, opening it as one of the relief sectors from which aid could be distributed to the surrounding population. Taking Baidoa was part of the methodical expansion of the intervention across southern Somalia, the Marines moving to secure the key towns and distribution centers. It allowed the humanitarian effort to reach one of the areas of greatest need, helping to break the famine in a region that had suffered terribly.
Record no. 820