Page 157 - NS-2 Textbook

150 MARITIME HISTORY

against 350 separate targets. Ftnally, in December 1995, sponse to the other doing so. Escalating conflict between
the presidents of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, and Croa- the two nations that might have led to a regional nuclear
tia signed a treaty to end the war. It was negotiated in war was halted only by the diplomatic efforts of the Clin-
Dayton, Ohio, with much involvement of the U.S. State ton Administration acting in conjunction with the United
Department. TI,e pact divided Bosnia into hvo largely Nations. Fortunately both nations were deterred from
autonomous parts. NATO agreed to deploy some 60,000 continuing on a course that could have led to nuclear de-
troops, including 20,000 U.s. Army troops, in Bosnia for struction of both sides. The issue of nuclear nonprolifer-
at least a year to maintain the peace. This force was grad- ation continues to be a major international concern.
ually reduced to about 7,000 troops by year-end 2004, at In April 2001 a U.S. Navy reconnaissance aircraft fly-
which time it was formally replaced by an equal number ing a mission over international waters in the South
of troops from the European Union. China Sea suffered a midair collision with a Chinese
fighter jet that came too close. Following the collision the
Chinese plane crashed into the sea, killing its pilot. The
OTHER PROBLEM AREAS
American plane made an emergency landing on China's
Problems broke out in other areas of the world as well. In Hainan Island south of the mainland. Its crew of twenty-
January 1991 a civil war erupted in the former Soviet- four men and women was held for the next eleven days
aligned African state of Somalia after the cessation of aid until they were released into U.S. custody. They received
frOln the fornler Soviet UniOll r when several clan-led rebel a hero's welcome when they returned to the United
armies forced longtime president MohaTI1ffied Siad Barre States a few days later. The plane was later dismantled
to flee the country. In his absence several of these groups and returned in pieces to the United States in early July.
began battling among themselves for territmy, soon result-
ing in widespread anarchy and faTI1ine. The situation was OPERATION UNIFIED ASSISTANCE
particularly acute because nearly evelY adult male in the
cotmtry possessed at least one firearm due to the supply of In late December 2004 a huge tsunami generated by a
weapons remaining there from the old Soviet Union. strong tmdersea earthquake in the Indian Ocean basin
In December 1992 28,000 U.S. troops, including 1,800 devastated much of the seacoast of Indonesia, Sri Lanka,
marines, took part in the UN-sponsored Operation Re- TIlailand, southenl India, and several other countries in
store Hope, which was intended to bring in food sup- the region. By some estimates as many as 370,000 people
plies and restore some order to the counti·y. Assisted by were either killed by the tsunami itself or its effects
tmits of the French Foreign Legion, the marines patrolled shortly thereafter. In response, the United States initiated
the streets of Mogadishu, the cotmtry's capital. TI,ey de- Operation Unified Assistance, deploying eight U.S. Navy
ployed from four ships that had sailed there from the ships and P-3 aircraft from Kadena, Japan, to assist in the
U.S. Navy base at Diego Garcia in the lndian Ocean, and recovelY effort, along with heavy lift cargo aircraft from
were joined by a covering carrier battle group from the the U.S. Air Force. By the time the operation ended in
Persian Gulf. February 2005, helicopters from the amphibious ships Ft.
Although clan warlords signed a peace accord in McHellry and Essex had logged over 2,000 missions in
March 1993, much sporadic violence continued, and fi- support of the relief efforts, and some 12 million tons of
nally in Octobel; following a gun battle behveen U.s. sol- supplies were flown to the region by Navy and Air Force
diers and clan members that left eighteen dead and ap- planes. Several thousand casualties were treated by U.S.
proximately seventy-five wotmded, President Clinton medical personnel, mainly aboard the hospital ship MercJj
set March 1994 as the date by which all remaining U.S. sent to the region as part of the deployment.
forces would leave the country. About 2,000 marines
were kept offshore for several months thereafter as po- DRUG TRAFFICKING
tential cover for the remaining UN troops.
In mid-1996 Navy-Marine Corps amphibious ready Throughout the 1990s and beyond all services within the
groups ·were called upon on hvo occasions to assist in U.S. Defense Department and the Coast Guard have been
evacuation of U.S. nationals and other nonconlbatants called upon to support both international and domestic
from the African nations of Liberia and the central efforts to suppress the illegal drug trade. In the 1990s
African Republic of Bangui, both of which were experi- drug producers in South America increasingly trans-
encing outbreaks of ethnic violence} £arnine} and disease. ported their drugs to the United States by way of Central
The marines also reinforced the U.S. embassy in Mon- America. Traffickers used boats, low-flying aircraft, and
rovia, Liberia, during that crisis. tractor-trailers hauling legal cargo to smuggle drugs
In the spring of 1998 much apprehension arose over botmd for American markets. In response, all services
the issue of nuclear weapons proliferation when India have lent support with their various intelligence agen-
and Pakistan each exploded nuclear test devices in re- cies worldwide. They also have conducted joint drug-