Somali
"Mad Mullah" Jihad (1899-1905)--Somali
tribesmen led by religious leader Muhammad ibn Abd Allah
Hasan waged a desert guerrilla war against Britain, Italy
and Ethiopia. Following repeated defeats by the Somalis,
the colonial powers offered him territory in Italian
Somaliland in exchange for peace. He resumed his war in
1908 and harassed the occupiers of his country until
1920. Though this war pre-dates Somali independence,
which occurred in 1960, it serves as an example of the
ages-old conflict between Ethiopia and the Somali
people.
Somali
Border War with Ethiopia and Kenya (Feb. 1964-April 1964)
--Ethiopia
and Kenya accused Somalia of aiding Somali-speaking
rebels in the border areas. Somalia's post-independence
leaders sought to unite all Somalis within a "Greater
Somalia," and this goal brought Somalia into nearly
constant conflict with its neighbors. In the early 1960s,
Ethiopia and Kenya had grown tired of Somalia's
aggression, and eventually small-scale military clashed
between Somali and Ethiopian armed forces broke out along
the ill-defined border. In February 1964, armed conflict
erupted along the Somali-Ethiopian frontier, and
Ethiopian aircraft raided targets in Somalia. Fighting
ended in April, 1964 through the mediation of Sudan.
Ethiopia and Kenya later signed a mutual defense pact in
1964, as a form of mutual protection from
Somalia.
Ogaden
War (1977-1978)-
Ethiopia against Somalia and Somali rebels in the Ogaden
desert area. The Soviet Union and Cuba aided Ethiopia,
with Cuba sending nearly 15,000 troops, aided by 1,500
Soviet advisors. Somalia lost the war, its military was
wrecked, and the stage was set for the civil war of the
1980s.
Ethiopia-Somali
Border Clashes (1982)-
In the early 1980s,repeated attacks across the Somali
border in the Mudug (central) and Boorama (northwest)
areas by Somali rebels and elements of the Ethiopian army
revived the old Ethiopia-Somali conflicts. In mid-July of
1982, Somali rebels with Ethiopian air support invaded
Somalia in the center, threatening to split the country
in two. They managed to capture the Somali border towns
of Balumbale and Galdogob.
Ethiopian
Intervention in Somali Civil War
(2006-Present)-
The long-standing Somali Civil War (1988-Present) entered
a new phase with the growth of the Union of Islamic
Courts, an Islamic militant group, gained control of
Mogadishu and the central part of Somali. The UIC is in
opposition to the official, yet weak, government based in
Baidoa. In late 2006, Ethiopia sent troops to Baidoa to
support the government against the Islamic forces. In
late December, 2006, Ethiopian planes bombed the
Mogadishu airport and ground troops seized control of
three towns, including one on the border.
See
also: Ethiopian-Oromo
Conflicts
