The Ethiopian–Somali conflict is a territorial and political dispute between Ethiopia, Somalia, and insurgents in the area.
Originating in the 1300s, the present conflict stems from the Ethiopian Empire's expansions into the Somali-inhabited Ogaden region during the late 19th century. It escalated further when the Ogaden and Haud territories were transferred to Ethiopia by Britain after World War II. In the decades following, Somali desires for self-determination and/or unification under a Greater Somalia have culminated in numerous insurgencies and several wars. However, because of the Somali Civil War and the lack of a functioning central government since the collapse of the Democratic Republic of Somalia in 1991, Ethiopia has the upper hand militarily and economically.
Background In the 14th and 15th centuries, the Christian rulers of Abyssinia in the Ethiopian highlands became increasingly interested in proselytizing the coastal lands where Islam flourished, particularly in what is now northern Somalia, which was populated by Muslim Somali and other ethnic groups. This interest was particularly focused on what is now northern Somalia, with the goal of achieving sea access. The Ethiopian Empire sought to control the trades routes from ports such as Zeila. Both religious and economic motives were the impetus for Abyssinian incursions in the regions, as the rapid spread of Islam along the vital Zeila trade route was viewed as an existential threat to its existence. Abyssinian military expeditions were dispatched southeastward from the highlands over the decades to achieve these goals, ultimately serving as a significant unifying force among the Somali and other Muslim nationalities.
Before the Abyssinian attack on the Sultanate of Ifat, which was then controlling the Zeila trade route, Muslims and Christians in the horn had largely coexisted peacefully since the spread of Islam to the region, as the Muslims had a deep respect for Najashi, the Abyssinian ruler of the Kingdom of Axum, who had sheltered some of the earliest companions of the Prophet from persecution. The Ethiopian–Somali conflict effectively began in 1328 when the Abyssinians under Amda Seyon invaded Ifat. While the Muslim coalitions had initial successes, internal conflict resulted in their defeat. During the reign of Amda Seyon's son, Sayfa Arad, the Muslims began coalescing behind the Adal Sultanate and launching counter offensives. 1500s
During the 16th century, as the number and scale of Abyssinian raiding parties grew, Somali territories experienced increasing plunder and destruction. According to Prof. Richard Greenfield, "Eventually, the harassed Somali people retaliated." In 1529, in response to escalating Ethiopian raids on the Adalite frontier during a succession crisis, the leader of Adal, Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi (also known as Ahmad Gurey or Gragn), launched a campaign to eliminate Abyssinian rule over all Muslim lands and neutralize the Abyssinian threat by bringing these territories under Muslim control. This marked a strategic shift from a primarily defensive stance to an offensive approach.
The early years of Ahmad's campaign were successful; his forces defeated the Ethiopian ruler Dawit II, and by 1533, all Muslim emirates had been liberated from Christian rule. Somali armies, under Imam Ahmad's command, swept back across the Great Rift Valley and into the Ethiopian Highlands itself. Within two years, Ahmad had conquered most of Ethiopia, establishing an empire that extended from the highlands to Cape Guardafui on the Somali coast. However, as foreign powers became involved, the conflict reached a stalemate, with both sides exhausting their resources and manpower. This led to the contraction of both powers, altering regional dynamics for centuries. Many historians trace the origins of modern hostility between Somalia and Ethiopia back to this war.David D. Laitin and Said S. Samatar, Somalia: Nation in Search of a State (Boulder: Westview Press, 1987). Haggai Erlich coined the term 'Ahmed Gragn Syndrome' to describe the deep-seated Ethiopian suspicions and fears of Islam that arose from the devastation of the war. According to Erlich, many Ethiopians perceive Somalis as descendants of Ahmed Ibrahim, viewing them as perpetually poised to destabilize Ethiopia. This enduring legacy is believed to have significantly influenced Ethiopia's decision to invade Somalia centuries later, during the 2000s. To Somalis, Imam Ahmad is widely seen as a hero and inspiration to many Somali nationalists.
Although regional clashes between Ethiopians and Somalis persisted into the 15th and 16th centuries, they largely ceased in the mid-17th century, only to resume with Emperor Menelik's expansions at the end of the 19th century.
Menelik's invasions (1890–1905)
There is no evidence that Ethiopia controlled any Somali inhabited territory at any point in history prior the Menelik's Expansions to south and south-east in the late 19th century. Rather, independent historical accounts are unanimous that prior to Ethiopian penetration into the Ogaden and Hararghe in the late 1880s Somali clans were free of Ethiopian and Shewan control. Ethiopian Emperor 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. 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 1887, Menelik conquered the city of Harar and in 1891 announced a programme of ambitious expansion and colonialism to the European powers. This marked the start of a tentative yet violent invasion into the Ogaden region. In the first phase of Ethiopian penetration into the region, Menelik dispatched his troops from newly conquered 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. Repeatedly between 1890 and 1900, Ethiopian raiding parties into the Ogaden caused devastation. The disparity in numbers and firepower left Somalis defenceless to attack. In 1893, the then Earl of Rosebery remarked that the British government, "cannot with justice withhold from the Somali tribes under our protection such limited supply of arms as may suffice to enable them to protect themselves from predatory bands of Abyssinian's." Ethiopia claimed all Somali occupied regions as being "traditional parts of Abyssinia", but was rebuffed by both the British and Italians. In response to the threat of Menelik's expansions, many clans in what became British Somaliland accepted British protection.
Using newly conquered Harar as a base, Ethiopian military expeditions were dispatched to exact tribute from the Somali and Oromo populations of the south. By the mid-1890s these incursions had started penetrating far into Somali inhabited territory, reaching the city of Luuq in 1896. Rumour was widely circulated in the Banaadir region (Mogadishu and it environs) that the invaders intended to reach the Indian Ocean coast. The widely perceived "Ethiopian menace" was a factor in prompting Antonio Cecchi, a major proponent of Italian expansion, to seek an alliance with the Somalis of the south, though his effort failed disastrously when his troops were besieged and massacred at Lafoole. While previous Ethiopian raids had been primarily disruptive to trade, Emperor Meneliks well armed incursions in the era of colonialism provoked significant unease among the Somali all the way to the Banaadir coast. A force of several thousand Ethiopian horseman armed with rifles pushed into the Shabelle valley near Balad, only a days march from Mogadishu during the spring of 1905. Several clans residing in the region engaged in battles with the invading forces. Somali poetry recording the event noted that though many had been killed by the well armed Ethiopians, Muslim fighters of several clans had confronted and defeated the invasion at Yaaqle. Contemporary Somali literature suggests that the Ethiopians were initially perceived to be a larger danger than the Italians, who at the time were confined to coastal enclaves.
Border treaties and land transfers
Notably, in 1897 the British and Ethiopian Empire's signed the Anglo-Ethiopian Treaty. In hopes of securing Emperor Menelik's neutrality while the Mahdist revolt was raging in Sudan, the British transferred large expanses of land belonging to the British Somaliland Protectorate over to Ethiopia. No Somalis participated in the treaty, and its existence was concealed from them. Largely due to the minimal presence and activity of Ethiopian forces in the region, Somalis remained largely unaware of the change in status. The previous year another treaty, this time between Ethiopians and Italian Somaliland in the south, aimed to delineate a border. Once more, no consultation of Somalis occurred and no record of the agreement terms exists. In the following century, Ethiopia's claim on the Ogaden rested on the Anglo-Ethiopian Treaty of 1897. Ethiopian administration of the Ogaden was "sketchy in the extreme". Sporadic tax raids into the region often failed and Ethiopian administrators and military personnel only resided in Harar and Jijiga.
Modern conflict (1934–1991) In the years leading up to the Second Italo-Ethiopian War in 1935, the Ethiopian hold on the Ogaden remained tenuous. Attempts at taxation in the region were called off following the massacre of 150 Ethiopian troops in January 1915. Due to native hostility, the region had nearly no Ethiopian presence until the Anglo-Ethiopian boundary commission in 1934 and the Ual-Ual Incident in 1935. Only during 1934, as the Anglo-Ethiopian boundary commission attempted to demarcate the border, did Somalis who had been transferred to the Ethiopian Empire realize what was happening. This long period of ignorance about the transfer of their regions was facilitated by the lack of 'any semblance' of effective administration of control being present over the Somalis to indicate that they were being annexed by Ethiopia.
In 1941, the British Royal Air Force dropped leaflets over Italian-occupied territory on behalf of Emperor Haile Selassie. These leaflets pronounced his claim to the major Somali coastal city of Mogadishu and it environs (known as the Banaadir region), declaring: "I have come to restore the independence of our country, including Eritrea and the Benadir, whose people will henceforth dwell under the shade of the Ethiopian flag."
Post-WWII