In December 1994, the U.N. launched a food aid and medical relief operation called "Restore Hope," supported by a U.S. military expedition whose purpose was to secure aid distribution and then leave Somalia.
When U.S. and United Nations soldiers got bogged down in a guerrilla war in Somalia in 1993-94, it wasn't just the rebel leader Mohammed Farah Aidid they were fighting – it was the terrorist forces of Osama bin Laden, according to new intelligence information obtained by DEBKA-Net-Weekly.
A secret CIA file obtained by DEBKA reveals what no one in the White House, U.S. military or U.S. intelligence agencies understood at the time – that the hard-core fighters of the Aidid militia were not Somali but members of bin Laden's Al Qaeda network, who were deployed in his Mogadishu bases.
However, according to the data contained in that file, some person or persons in the office of U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali did know this and made sure to keep the information from the American government, according to the CIA file.
On Oct. 2, 1993, a Somali informer – who later turned out to be in bin Laden's pay – tipped off the Americans that a group of Aidid's top lieutenants, possibly even the chief himself, had just entered a building opposite the main market of Mogadishu. Black Hawk choppers took off with 99 U.S. elite troops and equipped with reconnaissance and navigational equipment hooked to spy satellite and escorted by three observer helicopters and a high-flying OH-58. No one in the U.S. command imagined that their secret code words, including their secret signals to Washington, were in the hands of Aidid's men and, as it transpired later, passed on to Bin Laden's commanders.
An intense investigation followed the Mogadishu debacle to discover how the enemy was so well informed of U.S. plans. There were signs that bin Laden's men knew the secret U.S. codes and also the U.S. battle plan, enabling them to keep a jump head and lay traps. The investigation picked up the trail of leaked codes in Boutros-Ghali's office in New York, following them to the U.N. command in Mogadishu and bin Laden's aides.
Barred access to U.N. command offices to collect proof of the conspiracy, they resorted to an alternative scheme. On Feb. 26, 1994, a CIA special unit was flown directly from the States to Mogadishu and took over the U.N. building. A search turned up the documents containing the most secret U.S. codes.
Five days before the CIA break-in in Mogadishu, the FBI arrested senior CIA officer Aldrich Ames at his home in Arlington, Va., and charged him with spying for Moscow. A search of his home turned up evidence that Ames had been feeding secret U.S. codes to a recipient at U.N. headquarters in New York. Among them were the secret signals of the Mogadishu operation.
Boutros-Ghali is a former Egyptian diplomat, eventually becoming the sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1992 to December 1996. In the '70s, he officiated as undersecretary for foreign affairs in his country's government under President Anwar Sadat. Boutros-Ghali is currently secretary of the Francophone Group of Nations, which disseminates French culture and influence, especially in the Middle East and Africa. He is also an unofficial adviser on the Middle East to French President Jacque Chirac.
Less known are his close ties with the Palestinians and long personal friendship with their leader, Yasser Arafat, from the '60s, when Arafat made his debut on the international stage. Ghali still retains considerable influence in the plotting of Arafat's strategy
