assignment as Ambassador to Liberia (1987–90), Bishop was overseeing the voluntary evacuation of embassy staff and civilians as a civil war in Liberia spread, when he left in March 1990. Soon after returning to Washington to prepare for his new appointment to Somalia, he was appointed to a taskforce to deal with the crisis in Liberia, which included a gradual evacuation of American civilians and a rapid closure of the embassy in August. On 1 August, before leaving the US to take up his post in Mogadishu, Ambassador Bishop visited United States Central Command—the military command for the Middle East and northeast Africa—where he spent most of the day with its commander, Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf. Ambassador Bishop, aware of the ongoing strife, believed "the odds were better than even that we would have to leave Mogadishu under less than favorable circumstances." Ambassador Bishop understood from his past experiences in Beirut and Liberia the importance of being prepared to deal with emergencies and spent the afternoon working with military experts to review the embassy's Emergencies and Evacuation (E&E) plan until he was "satisfied...that [Central Command] realized that it might have to conduct an evacuation from Mogadishu and was prepared to do that." In its analysis of Operation Eastern Exit, the Center for Naval Analyses cited the Ambassador Bishop's previous experience and "clear understanding of his role" in the operation as one of the reasons Operation Eastern Exit went so well. Hours after Ambassador Bishop's visit to Central Command, Iraq invaded Kuwait. In 1979, the US negotiated access to an airport and port in both Mogadishu and Berbera; because of limited access the US had to locations in the Persian Gulf area, maintaining this access was a main interest for the Mogadishu embassy to pursue as the US mobilized to intervene in Kuwait. Though, the United States did not have any forces nor did it use Somali facilities in support of Operation Desert Shield. An increasing level of criminal violence prompted Ambassador Bishop to request the voluntary evacuation of dependents (e.g. children and spouses of staff) and non-essential staff in early December, although fighting between the government and the United Somali Congress (a rebel militia) remained no less than about away. The voluntary evacuation later became a mandatory evacuation. By 19 December, the number of official US personnel in the city was reduced from 147 to 37; around the same time, fighting