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If getting up and operating is proving a problem -- and it will take at least until sometime after the new year for the full force to be actively engaged -- getting back out promises to be worse. There is pronounced Somali resistance to turning the mission over to U.N. peacekeepers. Somalis feel that the U.N. team already in the country has been neither impartial nor adequate. They also nurse ill feelings toward U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros- Ghali, who once had dealings with the ousted dictator Mohammed Siad Barre. "They practiced deceit, secrecy, deception and outright bribery," charges Mohammed Awale, an adviser to Aidid, "adding to the fragmentation of Somali society." Restoring the U.N.'s credibility may be a surprisingly tough part of the mission.
Then there is the breathless reverence for all things American. Now that the U.S. has arrived, Somalis expect miracles to follow. If the U.S. fails to satisfy at least some of those hopes, there will be bitter recriminations from both sides for a long time to come.