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Prior to 11 September 2001, external interest in Somalia’s prolonged crisis was mainly humanitarian. The famine of 1991–92 attracted a massive emergency relief presence in the south of the country, culminating in the ill-fated UNOSOM peacekeeping intervention in 1993–95. Following the departure of UNOSOM in March 1995, the world largely disengaged from Somalia, expressing disenchantment with its intractable political crisis and fatigue with its endless need for assistance. What modest attention continued to be given to Somalia remained almost entirely in the realm of humanitarian and rehabilitation aid. Somalia’s continued anarchy did raise some security concerns in the 1990s, but those were not accorded serious and sustained attention until 11 September. With no embassies in the country, Western governments monitored political events from distant Nairobi. Few assets were devoted to the task; most embassies in Nairobi had at most a single desk officer following Somalia, and then often as one part of a multi-country assignment. Within the aid community, the high turnover of staff and lack of access to much of the country due to insecurity meant that few international officials could speak authoritatively on security and political matters inside Somalia.