CHAOTIC SOMALIA MUST NOW TRY TO HELP ITSELF

Reports out of Somalia indicate that during the short five months Operation Restore Hope was in place great strides were made in providing food and medical supplies to the starving nation. In addition, the operation curbed lawlessness that had interfered with efforts to deliver the food and supplies to people in desperate need.

Last week, the United States transferred control of the multinational Somalia relief effort to the United Nations. The U.N. will command a force that is projected to peak at 28,000, including more than 4,000 Americans, to assure that the now-much-improved conditions are maintained in Somalia.

Somalia still is not stable politically, and it won't become so any time soon. The United States' mission, however, was not to bring about political stability in a country in total chaos brought on by feuding warlords and civil war. Instead, it was a humanitarian effort a successful one that Americans, especially the thousands of military men and women who were sent there, can be proud of.

During a U.S. parting ceremony, in which command was turned over to the U.N., Marine Lt. Gen. Robert Johnston put it best. "We need to thank the 19- and 20-year-olds in uniform ... who by their poise and discipline and patience and good judgment truly did make it all possible," he said.

Those Americans who served in Somalia faced odds unlike those encountered during other foreign assignments: starving children; death by starvation and disease; encounters with thieves whose sole purpose was to deprive the starving of food and supplies; and, early on, confrontations with hostile Somalis who either did not understand the purpose of military intervention or simply were opposed to an "invasion" by outside forces.

Death by starvation, war and disease claimed an estimated 350,000 Somalis last year. Now, death rates in towns like Baidoa and Bardera have dropped from hundreds a day to less than a dozen, a figure aid officials consider normal. Mogadishu's streets now are relatively safe, at least during the day, and markets there are thriving.

Still, much must be done by the U.N. forces who will remain in the country for at least a year. While conditions in the cities have improved, bandits still roam the countryside, so forces must continue to safeguard the delivery of supplies throughout Somalia.

The United States could not just stand by and do nothing. It and the other countries that joined in Operation Restore Hope, and now the U.N. mission, have demonstrated to the Somalis that conditions can be improved.

The nations are doing their parts to help the Somalis. Now the Somalis must help themselves.