The Ogaden War was a border war fought between the communist governments of Derg-ruled Ethiopia and the Somali Democratic Republic from 1977 to 1978 during the Cold War. Somalia attempted to annex the Somali-majority Ogaden region of Ethiopia with the help of the local WSLF separatist movement, but Somalia's erstwhile allies, the USSR-led Eastern Bloc, sided with Ethiopia and helped the Derg regime to narrowly defeat the Somali invasion by 1978.
Background[]
In 1948, following the end of World War II, the United Kingdom partitioned Italian East Africa, returning the Somali-majority region of Ogaden to the Ethiopian Empire after stipulating that Ethiopia would recognize the Somali community's autonomy. However, Ethiopia immediately claimed sovereignty over the fertile grazing lands, and Britain failde to buy back the Ogaden region in 1956. In addition, parts of southern Somalia were granted to Kenya against the will of the local Somali community, which overwhelmingly favored union with Somalia. In 1958, Djibouti's Afar and European communities prevented the region's Somali community from voting on union with the soon-to-be-independent Somalia, instead voting to remain part of France until Djibouti was granted independence in 1977.
In 1969, following the assassination of Somali president Abdirashid Shermarke by a disgruntled bodyguard, the Somali military officer Siad Barre seized power in a bloodless coup, banning the nationalist Somali Youth League party and establishing a Marxist-Leninist dictatorship, the Somali Democratic Republic. In 1974, the Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie was himself ousted in a military coup by the Derg military junta, which established a "Socialist Ethiopia" government aligned with the Eastern Bloc. Despite Somalia and Ethiopia's shared ideological alignment, the rivalry over the Ogaden region continued, as the Western Somali Liberation Front (WSLF) separatist group rebelled against the Ethiopian government in the Ogaden amid the Ethiopian Civil War, and Siad Barre aimed to deflect criticism of his regime by fulfilling Somalia's irridentist desires.
War[]
In June 1977, the Somali National Army began to infiltrate the Ogaden region by sending reinforcements to the WSLF rebels. On 12 July 1977, 70,000 SNA troops, 40 fighter planes, 250 tanks, 350 APCs, and 600 artillery (practically the whole SNA) invaded the Ogaden, occupying 60% of the Ogaden region by the end of the month and destroying two Ethiopian infantry divisions. The USSR chose to side with Ethiopia, and Marshal Vasily Petrov reported the "sorry state" of the Ethiopian military to Moscow. After Soviet ceasefire efforts failed, the USSR cut off aid to Somalia, and Soviet military aid and advisors began to flood Ethiopia, whose army was reinforced by 15,000 Cuban Tropas. South Yemen offered military assistance, North Korea helped to train a "People's Militia", and East Germany sent trainers and troops to support the Derg's forces. China, which had become rivals of the USSR in 1969, backed Somalia, while Romania maintained friendly relations with Siad Barre. By 17 August, SNA troops had reached the outskirts of the major Ethiopian city of Dire Dawa, which had a vital airbase and rail line which enabled Ethiopia to feed and supply its soldiers. The Ethiopians repulsed the Somali assault on the airbase, but, in mid-September, the SNA and WSLF demoralized the Ethiopians with a major victory at the Battle of Jijiga. By the month's end, Somalia was in control of 90% of the Ogaden. However, the Somali tank battalions suffered from heavy attrition due to Ethiopian air attacks on their supply lines, and the rainy season made the Ogaden's dirt roads unusable. The Ethiopian government then raised a 100,000-strong militia force, and they trained with Warsaw Pact-supplied weapons, abandoning the use of the Empire's United States-supplied arsenal. From October 1977 to January 1978, the SNA-WSLF forces were held back by 40,000 Ethiopians, 16,000 Cubans, and 1,500 Soviets at the Battle of Harar, and the Somalis withdrew with 40,000 losses, a third of their original invasion force. In February 1978, the Ethiopians recaptured Jijiga and killed 3,000 of its defenders. On 9 March 1978, Siad Barre ordered the SNA to withdraw into Somalia, having already withdrawn the SNA's heavy weapons. By 15 March, the Somali withdrawal was complete, ending the war.
Aftermath[]
The WSLF insurgency continued - with Somali support - until 1981, when they were crushed. The war cost Somalia a third of its army, three-eighths of its armored units, and half of its air force, and Siad Barre was forced to abandon his nationalist aspirations. In 1979, a group of disgruntled officers formed the Somali Salvation Democratic Front, and the disorganized and demoralized SNA and the angry population of Somalia would rebel against Siad Barre in the Somali Rebellion of 1978-1991, ultimately leading to the Somali Civil War.