After the dictator Siad Barre’s ouster, conflicts between the General Farah Aidid's party and other clans in Somali had led to famine and lawlessness throughout the country. An estimated 300,000 people had died from starvation. A combined military force of United States and United Nations (under the name UNISOM) were deployed to Mogadishu, Somali, to monitor the ceasefire and deliver food and supplies to the starving people of Somali. Cevik Bir, who was then a lieutenant-general of Turkey, became the force commander of UNISOM on 1993. Despite the retreat of US and UN forces after several deaths due to local hostilities mainly led by Aidid, the introduction of a powerful military force opened the transportation routes, enabled the provision of supplies and ended the famine quickly.
Cevik Bir became the Turkish army's second-in-command general shortly after the Somali operation and played a vital role in establishment of a Turkish-Israeli entente against the emerging fundamentalism in the Middle East. As a tough castle of secularism in the region, he was awarded by Secularism and Democracy Award of 1997 in Washington, DC.