The 1964 Ethiopian–Somali border war

In short

In February 1964 fighting broke out along the border between the Somali Republic and Ethiopia, and Ethiopian aircraft raided targets in Somalia. Sudan mediated on behalf of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), and hostilities ended in April with a ceasefire, a joint commission and a demilitarised zone "ten to fifteen kilometers wide" on each side of the border (Library of Congress, Somalia: A Country Study).

The US government's own records from the time are published in Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, volume XXIV, chapter on Somalia (Office of the Historian). For the war of 1977–1978, see the Ogaden war.

Background

• The claim. At independence in 1960 the Somali Republic did not accept the borders drawn in colonial treaties, nor the 1954 handover of the Haud to Ethiopia (Library of Congress). See the Haud, 1954–1955.
• Early clashes. Within six months of independence there were armed incidents on the border (Library of Congress, Ethiopia: A Country Study).
• The Ogaden insurgency. A US National Intelligence Estimate of April 1964 described "Somali insurgency, encouraged and supported from Mogadiscio" in Ethiopia's Ogaden. It said "the Ethiopian army is finding it difficult to cope with the rebels" (FRUS 1964–68, vol. XXIV, doc. 292). A State Department paper of March 1964 spoke of "nine months of unsuccessful campaigning against Somali guerrillas in the Ogaden" (doc. 290).
• The Somali view. The same estimate described the aim as bringing "under its rule the half-million Somalis in Ethiopia and Kenya" (doc. 292). See the Northern Frontier District, 1962–1967.

The fighting, February 1964

• 6–8 February. "Ethiopian and Somali forces clashed at the border town of Tug Wajale", between Hargeisa and Jigjiga. Fighting resumed after a lull on 9 February and "may have spread to two other border localities" (FRUS, doc. 279).
• The second clash. The same memo calls it "the second between the GSR [Somali government] and the IEG [Ethiopian government] in less than a month" (same document).
• Emergencies. Somalia proclaimed a national emergency and asked for a UN Security Council meeting on a charge of Ethiopian aggression. Ethiopia proclaimed an emergency in the border area and asked the OAU to consider its charge of aggression by Somalia (same document).
• Air raids. The State Department noted a "growing number verified reports of penetration by IEG forces, particularly Air Force, into Somali territory", and fighting that continued "beyond February 16 ceasefire deadline" (doc. 281).
• Ethiopia's stated policy. Ethiopia's information ministry said on 10 February that the Emperor had "ordered IEG forces not to counterattack into Somali territory despite attacks against them", adding that if "necessities of military action" forced a crossing they would soon return (same document).

The powers

• The United States. Washington supplied Ethiopia's army. It told Ethiopia it did not share the view that the air incursions were self-defence (doc. 281). To Somalia it complained of "a growing and disturbing wave anti-US sentiment", including newspaper claims that Ethiopia had US support (doc. 282). On 21 February President Johnson wrote to President Aden Abdulle Osman that "the fact of our friendship with Ethiopia in no way lessens our desire for continuing friendship" with Somalia (doc. 285).
• The Soviet Union. Moscow had agreed to supply Somalia with "some $35 million of military aid" (doc. 292). A US intelligence note says Khrushchev wrote to the Emperor on 22 February about Somali charges that Ethiopia was "carrying out air attacks on Somali territory from French and British airfields" (doc. 287).

Mediation and the Khartoum agreement

• February. Both sides accepted an OAU call. Sudan took the lead in arranging a ceasefire, and OAU foreign ministers met in Lagos (doc. 280; doc. 285).
• Late March. Ethiopian and Somali delegations met in Khartoum from about 24 March (doc. 289).
• The terms. A ceasefire, a joint commission "to examine the causes of frontier incidents", and a demilitarised zone on either side of the border (Library of Congress). Later US documents refer to "the Khartoum Agreement of March 1964" and its "demilitarized border strip" (doc. 299).
• The Hargeisa raid. After the Khartoum talks ended, Hargeisa was bombed from the air in an attack the US "laid to IEG". On 1 April the State Department told its ambassador to raise "the Hargeisa bombing raid" with the Emperor, noting it used "US MAP-supplied equipment" and that US military aid was given "conditional on IEG undertaking to use equipment solely for defensive purposes" (doc. 291).

What followed

• Ethiopia and Kenya signed a mutual defence pact in 1964, "in response to what both countries perceived as a continuing threat from Somalia". It was renewed in 1980 and 1987 (Library of Congress).
• Later tension. US documents from the following years record new charges by each side that the other was breaking the Khartoum truce, including radio propaganda and troop movements into the demilitarised zone (doc. 302).
• 1967. Prime Minister Mohamed Haji Ibrahim Egal began a policy of easing tension with Ethiopia and Kenya. See the civilian era, 1960–1969.

Who suffered?

• Soldiers on both sides in the border fighting. The documents linked here give no count of the dead.
• People of Hargeisa and border areas under air attack (docs. 281 and 291).
• Herders who used grazing on both sides of the line. In February 1964 the US noted Ethiopia's "announced intention to close the border to Somali herdsmen who have traditional grazing and water rights on the Ethiopian side" (doc. 279).

Sources differ

• Who started it. Each government charged the other with aggression before the OAU and the UN (doc. 279). The US said it was "not seeking assess responsibility", while also writing that the problem "would not exist in present serious form if ethnic Somalis abandoned their goal of Greater Somalia" (doc. 281).
• Support for the Ogaden fighters. US intelligence described the insurgency as "encouraged and supported from Mogadiscio" (doc. 292). For the guerrillas in Kenya, the Library of Congress records that the Somali government "officially denied" charges that they were trained in Somalia and "directed from Mogadishu" (Library of Congress).
• Air attacks. Ethiopia called its incursions self-defence. Somalia said they came from French and British airfields, as reported by Soviet letters (doc. 287). The US called them "grave dangers" (doc. 281).
• The dead. None of the sources linked here gives a figure.

Read the primary sources yourself

• Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, volume XXIV, Africa, chapter on Somalia: documents 275–304.
• Library of Congress, Somalia: A Country Study (1993), "Foreign policy" (1960s): text.
• Library of Congress, Ethiopia: A Country Study (1991), "The Ogaden and the Haud": text.