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