Peacekeeping· Somalia Intervention (Op RESTORE HOPE)
Bardera
The securing of Bardera was one of the inland objectives of Operation Restore Hope, the Marines moving to take control of the town in southern Somalia that had been a center of the famine, where starvation had ravaged the population amid the breakdown of order.
Securing Bardera extended the relief effort into another of the hardest-hit areas of the interior, opening the town as a distribution point from which food and aid could reach the surrounding region. The Marines occupied Bardera against little organized resistance, establishing the secure presence that allowed the humanitarian effort to function in an area of desperate need. Taking the town was part of the methodical expansion of the intervention across the relief sectors of southern Somalia, the Marines spreading out from Mogadishu to secure the key inland centers. Bardera was one of the objectives that allowed the relief mission to reach deep into the famine zone, helping to break the starvation in a stricken region.
Record no. 822