NPR's Michael Skoler reports from Nairobi that a key Somali militia leader, Mohamed Farah Aideed (FAIR-uh eye-DEED), has died. Aideed died as a result of gunshot wounds he received last week. Aideed was the subject of a massive manhunt led by the American military in 1993, because the United Nations labeled him the main obstacle to peace. But after his militia killed 18 U-S Rangers in a 1993 street battle, the United States pulled out of Somalia. It is unclear whether Aideed's death will create an opportunity for the country's warring factions to finally negotiate a political solution to a five-year conflict which has left the country in a state of anarchy.
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