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This photo of Italian peacekeepers in Afghanistan shows an interesting mix of camouflage patterns, including the 1991 'Somalia' desert camouflage pattern and its successor, the Italian 4-colour desert camouflage pattern. [Image: Massimo Celeste.]

'Somalia' desert camouflage
Italian Republic

From 1945 to 1990, the peace-keeping function was, with very few exceptions, the sole and direct responsibility of the United Nations (UN). The UN would attempt to defuse conflicts and crises by deploying observers and lightly-armed military units into the field. In the Cold War era, however, these UN forces typically had only very limited mandates and were subject to severe restrictions.

When the stalemate between Eastern and Western nations was broken, in the late 1980s, the UN was finally able to act more directly, to resolve international conflicts. Moreover other agencies, such as the European Union (EU) and NATO, became important — and sometimes critical — participants in the preservation of regional stability.

As the threat posed by regional instability has assumed new forms and aspects, the international community has been obliged to devise measures equal to meet this threat. Thus, should unarmed observers and lightly-armed forces prove insufficient to ensure peaceful negotiations between opponents, heavily-equipped forces can be deployed, to persuade warring factions to solve their problems through means other than direct confrontation.

The peace-keeping missions undertaken by the Italian Army during the last decade of the 20th Century the ways in which a modern military organisation can rapidly and effectively adapt to the new situations and requirements that presently challenge the international community.

When Italy contributed peacekeepers to UNOSOM II, in 1993, its troops were issued this four-colour desert camouflage pattern. Nicknamed 'Somalia', the pattern is essentially Italian woodland pattern with light yellowish brown in place of dark greyish yellowish brown, light brown in place of dark greyish olive, greyish olive in place of grayish yellowish brown, and greyish reddish brown in place of black.

The 'Somalia' desert camouflage pattern continued as the standard Italian desert camouflage pattern until 2004, when the Italian 4-colour desert camouflage was introduced.

kamouflage.net is grateful to Steve Grammont and Massimo Celeste, for their invaluable contributions to this article.

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