This non-fiction snapshot occurred in a United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Somalia shortly after the American troops withdrew. Remaining behind are twenty-two thousand multi-national troops and five hundred United Nations civilian staff. The general population is terrorized as two major warlord's battle fiercely for the spoils of Mogadishu, the capital, and the provincial towns. The United Nations struggles desperately to install the semblance of a government but expecting democracy to tame insurgency proves more elusive than any could have imagined. Anarchy reigns supreme and a small group of UN civilians, movie-chair veterans, find the perfect playfield.
0' Neill, already an experienced Humanitarian Worker with the Red Cross, is on his first United Nations Peacekeeping Mission. Immersed in the paradox of Somalia he quickly finds that the mission challenges more than his professionalism. The result is a fascinating insight into the everyday operations of a Peacekeeping Mission and a voyage of self discovery and reaffirmation.
