The Ogaden war, 1977–1978

In short

In 1977 Somalia went to war with Ethiopia over the Ogaden, a large region of Ethiopia where most people are Somali. For a few months Somali forces held almost all of it. Then the Soviet Union, Somalia's main arms supplier, switched to Ethiopia, and Cuban troops arrived. By March 1978 the Somali forces had withdrawn (Library of Congress, Ethiopia: A Country Study).

The war is remembered in Somali as Dagaalkii 77. It is one of the turning points that set the country back for a generation.

Why did it begin?

The roots go back to partition. In the late nineteenth century Ethiopia's emperor Menelik II took Harar and extended his rule over the Ogaden (Library of Congress). An Anglo-Ethiopian treaty of 1897 recognised Ethiopian claims to the Somali grazing lands. Britain left the Ogaden in 1948 and the Haud in 1955 (same source).

At independence in 1960, the Somali Republic set out to unite all Somali-inhabited lands: the Ogaden, Kenya's north-east and Djibouti (same source). The five-pointed star on the flag stood for these five territories. Clashes on the border began within six months of independence, and again in 1964, when the Organisation of African Unity and Sudan mediated a halt (same source).

In 1974 and 1975 Ethiopia's emperor was overthrown, and the new military government, the Derg, faced revolts across the country. The Western Somali Liberation Front (WSLF), backed by the Somali government, began attacking Ethiopian posts in the Ogaden by February 1977 (Library of Congress).

How was the war fought?

• July 1977. On 13 July, the US Secretary of State told President Carter that Ogaden fighters, "supported by Somali irregulars", were attacking a chain of Ethiopian posts. A general Somali mobilisation was under way, and at least one of three Somali army divisions was moving to the frontier (Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977–1980, vol. XVII, doc. 22).
• July to September 1977. The WSLF and Somali forces captured large parts of the Ogaden, from the Dire Dawa area south to the Kenyan border (Library of Congress).
• September 1977, Jijiga. After a mutiny in the Ethiopian garrison, Jijiga fell. The Somali government said it was giving "moral, material, and other support" to the WSLF (same source).
• 13 November 1977. Somalia ended its 1974 Treaty of Friendship with the Soviet Union, closed the Soviet naval facilities at Berbera, and ordered all Soviet advisers to leave (FRUS, vol. XVII, doc. 45, note 2).
• Late November 1977, Harar. Somali forces besieged Harar on three sides. On 28 November, US officials judged the Somalis had "an even chance of taking the town" (FRUS, vol. XVII, doc. 35). The same day, the Soviet Union began an airlift of supplies to Ethiopia.
• December 1977 to February 1978. Soviet arms poured into Ethiopia. About 17,000 Cuban troops arrived by the end of the year and, with Ethiopian units, halted the Somali advance (Library of Congress).
• Early March 1978. The Ethiopian army retook Jijiga (same source).

The withdrawal, 9 March 1978

On 9 March 1978 the Somali Foreign Ministry called in Western ambassadors in Mogadishu and read a statement. The US Embassy sent the text to Washington the same afternoon (FRUS, vol. XVII, doc. 72):

"Friendly countries have proposed on many occasions the withdrawal of our units in order to create an atmosphere conducive to a negotiated settlement. The GSDR has decided to effect such a withdrawal."

The statement asked for four things: the withdrawal of all foreign troops, a ceasefire, negotiations based on self-determination, and observers to prevent reprisals against Somalis in the region (same source). The Embassy recorded that President Siad Barre had met the US ambassador at 2 a.m. that night and accepted proposals from President Carter.

Who suffered?

Somalis on both sides of the border paid for the war. The Library of Congress says the war and "the consequent refugee influx" forced Somalia to depend on outside aid to survive (Library of Congress, Somalia: A Country Study). Refugees also crossed into Djibouti, where the railway to Ethiopia was cut for months (FRUS, vol. XVII).

Soldiers, fighters and civilians died on both sides, and their families still remember them.

What did it lead to?

• April 1978. Army officers attempted a coup in Mogadishu, which did not succeed. Some who escaped abroad formed the first armed opposition movement, later the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (Library of Congress).
• The 1980s. The Library of Congress says the government "began to founder" after the war (Library of Congress). Armed movements formed in the north, the centre and the south, several of them backed by Ethiopia (Library of Congress).
• 1984. The WSLF paused its operations; some of its own leaders said their cause had been used for other ends (Library of Congress).
• 1991. The central state collapsed thirteen years after the war ended.

Sources differ

• When the Somali army entered. US records of July 1977 describe a Somali mobilisation and "irregulars" (FRUS doc. 22). The Library of Congress's Ethiopia study dates the formal dispatch of the Somali National Army to 13 February 1978 (Library of Congress). Many other accounts say regular Somali units fought from July 1977.
• How many died. No agreed figure exists for soldiers, fighters or civilians killed. Published estimates vary widely.

The lesson we take

The war showed that unity cannot be won by force against the will of the powers around us. The path that lasts is one that brings Somalis together by serving them, so that no outside power can split them again.

Read the primary sources yourself

• Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977–1980, vol. XVII, part 1, Horn of Africa, US Department of State, 2016: full volume. It contains 110 declassified US documents on the war, including the Somali withdrawal statement of 9 March 1978.
• Library of Congress, Ethiopia: A Country Study: The Ogaden and the Haud, War in the Ogaden.