Relations between the peoples of Somalia and Ethiopia stretch back to antiquity, to a common origin.
Map of the Ogaden region with Somali-inhabited land shaded in red.
Early Conflicts and Territorial Disputes
The earliest form of Ethiopian-Somali conflict dates back to the 14th century, when Mamluk Sultan an-Nasir Muhammad began destroying Coptic churches.
Amda Seyon I, the Emperor of Ethiopia, subsequently sent a mission to Cairo in 1321-2 threatening to retaliate against the Muslims in his kingdom and divert the course of the Nile if the sultan did not end his persecution.
As a result of the dispute, Haqq ad-Din I of the Ifat Sultanate seized and imprisoned the delegates sent by the Emperor as they were returning from Cairo.
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Amda Seyon responded by invading Ifat and killing many of Ifat's soldiers.
Part of the army then followed him and destroyed its capital, Zeila, with Amda Seyon plundering its wealth in the form of gold, silver, bronze, lead, and clothing.
In response to centuries of mistreatment of Muslims by the Ethiopian Empire, the 16th century leader of the Adal Sultanate (a successor of Ifat), Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi united the Muslims of the Horn of Africa, and, with the support of the Ottoman Empire, led an invasion of Abyssinia which brought much of the Christian polity under Muslim control.
However, the Ethiopians managed to secure the assistance of the Portuguese Empire and maintained their domain's autonomy, defeating and slaying Ahmad at the Battle of Wayna Daga.
Both polities in the process exhausted their resources and manpower, which resulted in the contraction of both powers and changed regional dynamics for centuries to come.
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Tensions over the Ogaden region later flared up again immediately after Somalia had acquired its independence in 1960.
On 16 June 1963, Somali guerrillas started an insurgency at Hodayo after Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie rejected their demand for self-government in the Ogaden.
The Somali government initially refused to support the guerrilla forces, which eventually numbered about 3,000.
However, in January 1964, after Ethiopia sent reinforcements to the Ogaden, Somali forces launched ground and air attacks across the border and started providing assistance to the guerrillas.
The Ethiopian Air Force responded with retaliatory strikes across the southwestern frontier against Feerfeer, northeast of Beledweyne and Galkacyo.
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On 6 March 1964, the Somali and Ethiopian authorities agreed to a cease-fire.
At the end of the month, the two sides signed an accord in Khartoum, Sudan, pledging to withdraw their troops from the border, cease hostile propaganda, and start peace negotiations.
The Ogaden War: Conflict Between Ethiopia & Somalia | The MacNeil/Lehrer Report. Jan. 1978
The Ogaden War (1977-1978)
In July 1977, the Ogaden War broke out after the Siad Barre government in Somalia sought to incorporate the Ogaden into a Pan-Somali Greater Somalia.
In the first week of the conflict, Somali armed forces took southern and central Ogaden and for most of the war, the Somali army scored continuous victories on the Ethiopian army and followed them as far as Sidamo.
By September 1977, Somalia controlled 90 percent of the Ogaden and captured strategic cities such as Jijiga and put heavy pressure on Dire Dawa, threatening the train route from the latter city to Djibouti.
After the siege of Harar, a Soviet-led coalition of 20,000 Cuban forces and several thousand Russian experts came to the aid of Ethiopia's communist Derg regime.
By 1978, the Somali troops were ultimately pushed out of the Ogaden.
| Event | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Ogaden War | July 23, 1977 - March 15, 1978 | Somalia invaded the Ogaden region of Ethiopia, attempting to capitalize on political unrest. |
| Ethiopian Victory | March 1978 | Ethiopia, with Soviet and Cuban support, defeated Somalia, leading to a humanitarian crisis due to refugees fleeing the Ogaden region. |
The 1970’s were a period of intense military and political strife throughout Africa.
Cold War politics complicated issues as Cubans, Soviets, and Americans supported their allies with foreign aid, weapons, and troops.
Ethiopia was also the scene of protracted military and social conflict.
Emperor Haile Selassie was a longtime American ally, and Ethiopia was the largest recipient of American aid in sub-Saharan Africa.
The United States expended more than $180 million in military assistance between 1946 and 1972.
It also maintained a major communications base in the Red Sea port of Asmara.
More than twenty-five hundred Ethiopian military men had received advanced training in the United States.
In addition, the Americans were extensively involved in Ethiopia’s education and communications infrastructure.
However, the aging Selassie presided over an autocratic and increasingly out-of-touch regime.
A devastating famine in 1973 and extensive government corruption undermined his authority.
A wave of student and worker strikes shook the country as the Ethiopian people sought greater freedom to address their problems.
Selassie’s fate was sealed when the military became disloyal.
The army began to take control of the country after organizing a coordinating committee known as the Dergue (also spelled Derg or Darg).
The armed forces imprisoned many members of the government and aristocracy.
Selassie himself was removed from the palace on September 12, 1974.
The former emperor died in 1975 under mysterious circumstances.
The military junta also adopted Marxism as its philosophy.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam was beginning to emerge as the dominant figure in the Dergue.
This ideological shift and a long chain of human rights abuses eventually forced the Americans to reduce their military aid to their longtime ally.
Mengistu went to Moscow in a December, 1976, trip, during which he arranged for a $385 million arms agreement.
The Carter administration ended all arms sales to the military government, and in retaliation the Dergue dramatically scaled back its diplomatic relations with the United States.
The Somalis, on the other hand, had accepted Soviet aid in 1962, when their army began to be trained and equipped by the Soviet Union.
General Muhammad Siad Barre became president in 1969 via a military coup, and the Soviets increased their aid program.
The Soviet Union countered the American bases in Ethiopia with an air force base near the Somali capital of Mogadishu, a naval base in Berbera, and a communications facility in Kismayu.
The Soviets and Somalia signed a friendship treaty in 1974.
The turmoil in Ethiopia encouraged General Siad Barre to take advantage of perceived Ethiopian weakness.
Siad Barre had long wanted to incorporate the Ogaden into Greater Somalia.
In order to facilitate these plans, the Somali government trained and armed a guerrilla group called the Western Somali Liberation Front (WSLF), which became very active among the ethnic Somali population in the Ogaden.
The group staged hit-and-run attacks against the Ethiopian army and other symbols of government authority.
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