The Ogaden, also known as the Somali Region, is a historically significant area located in eastern Ethiopia. It is natively referred to as Soomaali Galbeed, meaning 'Western Somalia'. The region borders Somalia.
The Ogaden region is a vast plateau that is overwhelmingly inhabited by Somali people. The primary river in the region is the Shebelle, which is fed by temporary seasonal streams. Towards the southwestern edge of the Ogaden is the source of the Ganale Doria River, which joins Dawa River to become the major Jubba River on the Somali border.
Historical Context
There are few historical texts written about the people who lived in what is known today as the Somali Region, sometimes referred to as "The Ogaden" region of Ethiopia. The Ogaden region was part of the Ifat Sultanate in the 13th century and later the Adal Sultanate in the 15th century. The city of Harar, serving as the effective capital of Ogaden, became a key administrative center for Adal. In the first half of the 16th century, the Ethiopian-Adal War broke out.
Beginning in the seventeenth century, the Ogaden region served as a vital conduit for the slave trade. Primarily from the Arsi, slaves would eventually find their way to Berbera to be sold to international slave dealers. Historian Ali Abdirahman Hersi indicates that the Emirate of Harar continued to engage in trade, albeit at a reduced scale, and established settlements in the Ogaden region after the fall of the Adal Sultanate.
In 1887, Ethiopian Emperor Menelik II conquered the city of Harar during his efforts to expand the empire and in 1891, announced a programme of ambitious colonialism to the European powers. This marked the start of a tentative yet violent invasion into the Ogaden region.
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In the first phase of Ethiopian penetration into the region, Menelik dispatched his troops from occupied Harar on frequent raids that terrorized the region. Indiscriminate killing and looting was commonplace before the raiding soldiers returned to their bases with stolen livestock. Menelik's expansion into Somali inhabited territory coincided with the European colonial advances in the Horn of Africa, during which the Ethiopian Empire imported a significant amount of arms from European powers.
The large scale importation of European arms completely upset the balance of power between the Somalis and the Ethiopian Empire, as the colonial powers blocked Somalis from receiving firearms. However the Ethiopians were also defeated numerous times by poorly armed Somalis such as in 1890 near Imi where Makonnen's troops had suffered a large defeat to Somali warriors. Before the emergence of the anti-colonial Dervish movement in the 20th century, Somalis had limited access to firearms.
When European colonial powers began to exert influence in the Horn of Africa, the Brussels Conference Act of 1890 imposed an arms embargo on the Somali population. During the same period Ethiopian Emperor Menelik, who was legally armed with rifles by European powers through the port cities of Djibouti and Massawa, began expanding into Somali inhabited territories.
In 1897, in order to appease Menelik's expansionist policy, Britain ceded almost half of the British Somaliland protectorate to Ethiopia in the Anglo-Ethiopian Treaty of 1897. Ethiopian authorities have since then based their claims to the Ogaden upon the treaty and the exchange of letters which followed it. The Somalis had given no authority to the British to transfer Somali territory to another state.
As Emperor Menelik II continued his campaign of indiscriminate raiding and attacks against the Somalis of the Ogaden region between 1890 and 1899, Somali clans residing in the plains of Jigjiga were in particular targeted. The escalating frequency and violence of the raids resulted in Somalis consolidating behind the Dervish Movement under the lead of Sayyid Mohamed Abdullah Hassan.
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As the Ethiopian Empire began expanding into Somali territories at the start of the 1890s, the town of Jigjiga came under intermittent military occupation until 1900. The Ethiopian hold on Ogaden at the start of the 20th century was tenuous, and administration in the region was "sketchy in the extreme". In the 1920s and 1930s, there were no permanent Ethiopian settlements or administration in any Somali inhabited land, only military encampments.
Due to native hostility, the region was barely occupied by Ethiopian authorities, who exerted little to no presence east of Jijiga, until the Anglo-Ethiopian boundary commission in 1934 and the Wal Wal incident in 1935. It was only after 1934 when the Anglo-Ethiopian boundary commission attempted to demarcate the border, did the Somalis who had been transferred to the Ethiopian Empire during the 1897 treaty realize what had happened. In the years leading up to the Second Italo-Ethiopian War in 1935, the Ethiopian hold on the Ogaden remained tenuous.
After the Italian conquest of Ethiopia in 1936, Ogaden was attached to Italian Somaliland, becoming the Somalia Governorate within the new colony of Italian East Africa. Following the British conquest of this colony, the Anglo-Ethiopian Agreement placed Ogaden under temporary British control.
Following World War II, Somali leaders in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia repeatedly put forward demands for self-determination, only to be ignored by both Ethiopia and the United Nations. Ethiopia unsuccessfully pleaded before the London Conference of the Allied Powers to gain the Ogaden and Eritrea in 1945, but their persistent negotiations and pressure from the United States eventually persuaded the British to cede Ogaden to Ethiopia in 1948. The last remaining British controlled parts of Haud were transferred to Ethiopia in 1955.
The population of the Ogaden did not perceive themselves to be Ethiopians and were deeply tied to Somalis in neighboring states. In 1948, the British Military Administration, which had been in control of the Ogaden since WWII, commenced a withdrawal. This transition saw the replacement of British officials with Ethiopian counterparts between May and July of that year in a significant handover process.
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In the town of Jijiga, incoming Ethiopian authorities instructed the Somali Youth League (SYL) to remove their flag, as they had declared both the party and its emblem as unlawful. The SYL defied this directive, leading to the flag being machine-gunned by an armored vehicle. This event escalated following the killing of a police officer after a grenade was thrown of the roof of the SYL headquarters. The police responded by firing into a crowd of protesters killing 25. Following this incident, Ethiopian administration resumed in Jijiga for the first time in 13 years.
Then, on 23 September 1948, following the withdrawal of British forces and the appointment of Ethiopian district commissioners, areas east of Jijiga were placed under Ethiopian governance for the first time in history. The SYL was banned and an attempt was made to ban all Somali political activity in the region.
In the mid-1950s, Ethiopia for the first time controlled the Ogaden and began incorporating it into the empire. In the 25 years following the commencement of Ethiopian rule in this era, hardly a single paved road, electrical line, school or hospital was built. The Ethiopian presence in the region was always colonial in nature, primarily consisting of soldiers and tax collectors.
Following Somalia's independence in 1960, the Ogaden was rocked by waves of popular revolts which were brutally repressed by Emperor Haile Selassie's government - resulting in deep animosity developed towards the Amharas by the Somalis. In many towns, Somali people were barred from employment. During this period, the newly independent Somali Republic and the Ethiopian Empire under Haile Selassie were on the verge of full-scale war over the Ogaden issue, particularly in 1961 and in the border war of 1964.
Though the newly formed Somali government and army was weak, it had felt pressured and obliged to respond to what Somali citizens widely perceived as oppression of its brethren by an Ethiopian military occupation. In a bid to control the population of the region during the 1963 Ogaden revolt, an Ethiopian Imperial Army division based out of Harar torched Somali villages and carried out mass killings of livestock.
Watering holes were machine gunned by aircraft in order to control the nomadic Somalis by denying them access to water. For nearly a year after the 1964 war, most major Somali towns in the Ogaden were under direct military administration, and the Ethiopian government also introduced a new policy of encouraging Amhara farmers to resettle in the valuable pastureland's available in the Ogaden that were used by Somali nomads’ herds as grazing areas. Under new laws, Somali nomads had no recognized claim to these territory and were harassed by the military as a result.
The Ogaden War
Throughout the late 1970s, internal unrest in the Ogaden region continued as the Western Somali Liberation Front (WSLF) waged a guerrilla war against the Ethiopian government. Ethiopia and Somalia fought the Ogaden War during 1977-78 over the region and its peoples. After the war, an estimated 800,000 people crossed the border into Somalia where they would be displaced as refugees for the next 15 years. At the end of 1978 the first major outflow of refugees numbering in the hundreds of thousands headed for Somalia and were bombed and strafed during the exodus by the Ethiopian military.
The Ogaden War, also known as the Ethio-Somali War, was a military conflict between Somalia and Ethiopia fought from July 1977 to March 1978 over control of the sovereignty of the Ogaden region. Ethiopia was saved from defeat and permanent loss of territory through a massive airlift of military supplies worth $1 billion, the arrival of more than 12,000 Cuban soldiers and airmen and 1,500 Soviet advisors, led by General Vasily Petrov.
The Ethiopian-Cuban force prevailed at Harar and Jijiga, and began to push the Somalis systematically out of the Ogaden. On 23 March 1978, the Ethiopian government declared that the last border post had been regained, thus ending the war. Almost a third of the regular SNA soldiers, three-eighths of the armored units and half of the Somali Air Force had been lost during the war. The war left Somalia with a disorganized and demoralized army as well as a heavy disapproval from its population.
Foreign correspondents who visited the Ogaden during the early 1980s noted widespread evidence of a 'dual society', with the Somali inhabitants of the region strongly identified as 'Western Somalis'. In the years following the 1977-1978 Ogaden War, many supporters of the Western Somali Liberation Front (WSLF) became disillusioned with the organizations increasing reliance on Mogadishu and were frustrated by international portrayals of the struggle in the Ogaden as merely a border matter between Ethiopia and Somalia.
As the Derg began collapsing in the late 1980s, President Mengistu also attempted to reduce the need for troops in Ogaden by making it an Autonomous Region - a concession toward local secessionist sentiment. An ONLF a central committee was formed in January 1992, laying the foundation for an organized and cohesive organization. By the time Mengistu had fallen, the ONLF had significantly consolidated its position in the region.
Since 1992, the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) dominated EPRDF government sought to curb Somali demands for self-determination by influencing politics in the region. Many of the Ethiopian troops sent to the Ogaden by Addis Ababa were Tigrayans from northern Ethiopia with no understanding of the culture or region. The central government portrayed the ESDL as a pan-Somali organization in contrast to the Ogaden clan dominated ONLF. While many Somalis saw the ESDL as a merely an extension of the Ethiopian government, the strategy put the ONLF under greater pressure.
Despite an agreement between the central government and the ONLF to cooperate on security and administration in the lead up to the 1992 elections, a mutual suspicion existed. To take part in the upcoming 1992 regional elections the two existing Somali political entities in the Ogaden, the ONLF and Al-Itihaad Al-Islamiya (AIAI), organized themselves into different constituencies across the Ogaden. Later that year the Ethiopian government forces attacked AIAI's headquarters in the region killing several high ranking figures.
Following the attack, Al-Itihaad quickly regrouped and declared a jihad against the Ethiopian military presence in the region. As fighting between AIAI and the Ethiopian military raged throughout 1992, a serious internal debate and two factions emerged within the ONLF over whether to join the war. One wing argued that it was clear that the new Ethiopian government was not serious about self-rule and democracy, so the armed struggle should be resumed. The opposing side argued that the government should still be given a chance considering the upcoming regional elections slated for December 1992. It was also noted that the organization only possessed a small military wing.
During the December 1992 elections for District Five (what later became the Somali Region), the ONLF won 80% of the seats of the local parliament. Though the war between Al-Itihaad and the government had ended before the election, AIAI did not participate.
During the new region's founding conference, which was held in Dire Dawa in 1992, the naming of the region became a divisive issue. Almost 30 Somali clans live in the Somali Region of Ethiopia. The ONLF sought to name the region 'Ogadenia', whilst the non-Ogadeni Somali clans who live in the same region opposed this move.
Zbigniew Brzezinski, the national security advisor to President Jimmy Carter, once quipped that “SALT lies buried in the sands of the Ogaden.” The Ogaden War (1977-1978) between Somalia and Ethiopia upended the Cold War geostrategic balance in the Horn of Africa, and bore tragic consequences for the region that linger today. While many observers associate the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan on Christmas Eve of 1979 with the end of détente, historians now recognize that it was the Soviet intervention in the Ogaden conflict, for American decision-makers like Brzezinski and Carter, that precipitated the end of this era.
Examining the Ogaden crisis offers key insights for this new era. First, East African states will remain motivated foremost by domestic considerations and calculations of their own regional interests. Competition among, and within, regional powers in the Horn of Africa will likely continue to transcend the wishes of distant superpowers. However, East African leaders will remain closely attuned to the emerging Sino-American competition and will seek to exploit this dynamic to advance their agendas.
Recent policy pronouncements that seek to place “great power competition” at the center of American interests in Africa risk exacerbating this tendency. Examination of the Cold War in the Horn suggests that such threat-based definitions of American interests will likely cede leverage to regional actors with costly results. Broadly considered, competing with China in Africa should not become an interest in and of itself, detached from how Chinese activities in Africa might actually threaten American security and prosperity.
Ogaden Region Facts for Kids
Ogaden is a large region in Ethiopia. It is also known as the Somali Region. The area is named after the Ogaden clan, a large group of people who live there.
The Ogaden region is located in the eastern part of Ethiopia. It is mostly a dry area with a lot of flat land and some hills. The climate is hot and dry, which means it doesn't get much rain.
Most of the people living in the Ogaden region are ethnic Somalis. They share a common language, culture, and traditions with people in neighboring Somalia. Many people in the region are pastoralists, meaning they raise animals like camels, goats, and sheep.
The Ogaden region has a long history. It has been a place where different groups of people have lived and traded for centuries. In the late 1800s, the region became part of Ethiopia. However, because most of the people there are Somali, there have been times when some wanted the region to join Somalia or become independent. This has led to some conflicts in the past.
Current Situation
The decades-long strife between government forces and the ONLF in the Ogaden showed signs of abating in 2018. In July a new reform-minded government removed the ONLF from a list of organizations it had designated as terrorist groups. The next month the ONLF unilaterally declared a cease-fire. Then in October the government and the ONLF signed a peace agreement that was intended to end the hostilities and provide a vehicle for the ONLF to pursue its objectives in a peaceful manner.
The ONLF formed as a secular, nationalist group in 1984. They won the elections for the first SRS regional assembly in 1992 following the overthrow of the Ethiopian military regime in 1991 and ushering in of an ethnic federal system in Ethiopia.
The conflict has left the Somali region one of Ethiopia’s poorest states - on average, nearly two million people are dependent on food aid each year.
Peace talks between the ONLF and the Government of Ethiopia began in 2012, led by a team from the Kenyan government. Conciliation Resources was invited to support these talks, providing technical advice to the Kenyan team and the conflict parties throughout the six years of negotiations. This included training in preparing for negotiations, advising on the wider peace process and helping to draft the final peace deal.
The deal was signed in October 2018 in Asmara, Eritrea. Since the signing of the peace deal, we’re now supporting the conflict parties in the transition to peace. We are supporting the regional government to develop a peace and reconciliation framework that takes in to account the complex nature of conflict in the region and provides for better coordination between the regional government, ONLF, elders and local communities.
Table: Chronology of Key Events in the Ogaden Region
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 13th Century | Ogaden region part of the Ifat Sultanate. |
| 15th Century | Ogaden region becomes part of the Adal Sultanate. |
| 1887 | Ethiopian Emperor Menelik II conquers the city of Harar. |
| 1897 | Britain cedes half of British Somaliland to Ethiopia in the Anglo-Ethiopian Treaty. |
| 1936 | Ogaden attached to Italian Somaliland after the Italian conquest of Ethiopia. |
| 1948 | Britain cedes Ogaden to Ethiopia. |
| 1977-1978 | Ogaden War between Ethiopia and Somalia. |
| 2018 | Peace agreement signed between the Ethiopian government and the ONLF. |
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