EdoloO (Brescia), 11 luglio 2023 – “It was a battle in which the Italian Army paid the highest blood tribute after World War II, despite being on a humanitarian mission. Now I would like all 31 injured to be honored as they deserve.”
This is how Stefano Ruaro, 57 years old, of which 35 spent in the service of the Italian Army, remembers his “own” July 2, 1993. On that day, during the battle of Checkpoint Pasta in Mogadishu, he was a paratrooper raider of the 9th Assault Paratroopers Regiment “Col Moschin” (an elite unit of special forces), in the Italian contingent in war-torn Somalia, for the humanitarian operation Ibis under the auspices of the United Nations. The routine sweep in a neighborhood of Mogadishu ended with the death of three Italian soldiers (Andrea Millevoi, Stefano Paolicchi, and Pasquale Baccaro) and indeed 31 injured, as remembered on the thirtieth anniversary of the bloody battle by the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella and the Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (an exhibition was also inaugurated at the Vittoriano).
“Somalia? It was chaos,” recalls Ruaro, who lives in Edolo, in the province of Brescia. It was also chaos on July 2nd. An operation that on paper should have been peaceful turned into a hell: barricades, stone-throwing by civilians covering the rear of the militiamen, snipers on the roofs. Perhaps the Somalis (galvanized by khat, the “drug of the poor”) wanted to defend a large quantity of weapons or hide one of the warlords, General Aidid.
“We were trained professionals, with good equipment for the time. But there were many conscripts, paratroopers, who found themselves fighting hand-to-hand combat. They fought like lions.” The men of the 1st Paratroopers Carabinieri Regiment Tuscania also provided great support. Ruaro, after stopping a firing center (one sniper captured, two fled), was shot in the legs and right hand, but as described in the presidential decree that, in 1995, awarded him the bronze medal for military valor, he managed “with great firmness of mind and stoic endurance of pain to maintain control of the vehicle, avoiding the transported comrades from remaining under enemy fire. Assisted by colleagues, aware of the seriousness of the injuries, he encouraged them to continue the action.”
After 30 years, memories, faces, thoughts are all perfectly imprinted in the mind. “Paolicchi was supposed to get married at the end of July. We must thank the families, starting with mine, for all the worries they have experienced.” Today Ruaro, retired, dedicates himself to his passions, starting with being a ski instructor, and is involved in projects for disabled children. But the commitment is also not to forget this page of history and to ensure that what happened is not in vain (also learning from mistakes), since fourteen other Italian missions are active in various parts of the world. “I would like each of the 31 injured to be given recognition. Probably in the countries where they live, they don’t even know who these men are who 30 years ago experienced hell and fought with honor. It is not easy to live with the memories of what we have seen, to wonder why others died in a country where we were not invaders.”
In addition to Somalia, Ruaro has been to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Bosnia. Would he do it all over again? “Yes, and not just because it is the job I chose. The question I ask myself is whether what we did was worth it. I believe it was.”
