United Nations Security Council resolution 794, adopted unanimously on 3 December 1992, after reaffirming resolutions 733 (1992), 746 (1992), 751 (1992), 767 (1992) and 775 (1992), the Council " xpressedgrave alarm" regarding the situation in

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

and authorised the creation of the

Unified Task Force The Unified Task Force (UNITAF), also known as Operation Restore Hope, was a United States-led, United Nations-sanctioned multinational military force deployed to Somalia from 5 December 1992 to 4 May 1993. It was established to replace United ...

(UNITAF) to create a "secure environment for

humanitarian relief Humanitarian aid is material and logistic assistance, usually in the short-term, to people in need. Among the people in need are the homeless, refugees, and victims of natural disasters, wars, and famines. The primary objective of humanitarian a ...

operations in Somalia" in order to provide "essential for the survival of the civilian population". The current resolution determined that "the magnitude of human tragedy caused by the conflict in Somalia, further exacerbated by the obstacles being created to the distribution of humanitarian assistance onstitutesa threat to international peace and security". The Council once again, strongly condemned violations of

international humanitarian law International humanitarian law (IHL), also referred to as the laws of armed conflict or the laws of war, is the law that regulates the conduct of war (''wikt:jus in bello, jus in bello''). It is a branch of international law that seeks to limit ...

and demanded the cessation of all hostilities from all parties involved, urging them to co-operate with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General

Boutros Boutros-Ghali Boutros Boutros-Ghali (14 November 1922 – 16 February 2016) was an Egyptian politician and diplomat who served as the sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1992 to 1996. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Boutros-Gha ...

and military, including allowing access by military personnel and humanitarian organisations to the affected population and to ensure their safety. It also authorised a further deployment of 3,500 personnel of the

United Nations Operation in Somalia I United Nations Operation in Somalia I (UNOSOM I) was the first part of a United Nations (UN) sponsored effort to provide, facilitate, and secure humanitarian relief in Somalia, as well as to monitor the first UN-brokered ceasefire of the Somal ...

(UNISOM I) created in Resolution 775 to Somalia and informing it should proceed at the discretion of the Secretary-General. The resolution went on to endorse a recommendation by the Secretary-General that action should be taken under

Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter sets out the UN Security Council's powers to maintain peace. It allows the Council to "determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression" and to take military a ...

and welcomed offers by Member States concerning the creation of an operation to create a secure environment for humanitarian operations, that later became known as UNITAF. At the time of his report,

disarmament Disarmament is the act of reducing, limiting, or abolishing Weapon, weapons. Disarmament generally refers to a country's military or specific type of weaponry. Disarmament is often taken to mean total elimination of weapons of mass destruction, ...

and the problem of security was not resolved. The Council authorised such action to be taken by Member States, and appointed an ''ad hoc'' commission composed of members of the Security Council to report on the implementation of the current resolution. Acting under Chapter VII and Chapter VIII, the Council urged states and agencies to ensure strict implementation of the

arms embargo An arms embargo is a restriction or a set of sanctions that applies either solely to weaponry or also to "dual-use technology." An arms embargo may serve one or more purposes: * to signal disapproval of the behavior of a certain actor * to maintain ...

against Somalia imposed in Resolution 733. Resolution 794 ended by requiring states participating in UNITAF and the Secretary-General to report regularly on the progress they are making in Somalia so that arrangements can be handed back over to UNISOM II. Within days of passing the current resolution, on 9 December 1992, the first UNITAF troops arrived in the Somali capital,

Mogadishu Mogadishu, locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and List of cities in Somalia by population, most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port connecting traders across the Indian Ocean for millennia and has ...

. It was the first Security Council resolution that authorised the use of force under Chapter VII to deliver humanitarian aid that was being obstructed by warlords, and the fourth major military engagement since the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

, following the

invasion of Kuwait The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, codenamed Project 17, began on 2 August 1990 and marked the beginning of the Gulf War. After defeating the Kuwait, State of Kuwait on 4 August 1990, Ba'athist Iraq, Iraq went on to militarily occupy the country fo ...

, the deployment of peacekeepers in Cambodia and a further deployment of peacekeepers in

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

References

External links

*
Text of the Resolution at undocs.org
{{Authority control 0794 1992 in Somalia 0794 United Nations operations in Somalia December 1992

See also

References

External links