In 1993, the United Nations began a peacekeeping mission in Somalia known as Operation Restore Hope. Soldiers from 21 different nations were sent to Somalia as that nation suffered through mass starvation and civil war.
It now appears that the "peacekeepers" were often busy with atrocities, rather than restoring hope.
Belgian soldiers are accused of torturing Somali children to discourage stealing. Two members of an elite Belgian paratrooper unit are being tried for dangling a Somali boy over an open fire. The soldiers referred to the incident as a "playful game."
Other soldiers are accused of forcefeeding pork to a Muslim boy until he vomited. In another incident, soldiers are accused of putting a boy into a scorching hot container and leaving him without water for two days, until he died. Another Belgian is accused of urinating in the face of a Somali.
Italian soldiers are accused of raping Somali women.
There are also allegations that Canadian "peacekeepers" beat a Somali boy to death and shot other civilians without provocation.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said "I am appalled and outraged by these actions, which are unacceptable and counter to everything that peacekeeping stands for."
(Source: CNN.)
