Ethio-Somali War
| Ogaden War | |||||||
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| Part of the Ethiopian–Somali conflict and the Cold War | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Ethiopia Soviet Union Cuba South Yemen
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 Somalia WSLF
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Mengistu Haile Mariam Aberra Haile Mariam Vasily Petrov Arnaldo Ochoa Salim Rubai Ali
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Siad Barre Brigadier-General Ali Matan Hashi General Muhammad Ali Samatar Colonel Ali Ismail Colonel Yusuf Ahmed Sarhan Abdullahi Hassan
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| Strength | |||||||
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Beginning of war: 67,000 soldiers in total On Somali front: 4 infantry brigades (1 mechanised) 2 tank battilions 2 artillery battalions 3 airborne battalions Later: 75,000 fulltime soldiers in 1980 1,500 Soviet advisors 15,000 Cubans |
Beginning of war: 25,000 soldiers 23 motorised and mechanised battalions 9 tank battalions 9 artillery battalions 4 airborne battalions End of war: SNA 63,200 WSLF 15,000 |
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||
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Ethiopia: 16,133 killed 10,563 wounded 3,867 captured or missing (including 1,362 deserters) Cuba: 400 killed South Yemen: 100 killed USSR: 33 dead and missing Civilians: 1,000 killed 500,000 displaced Equipment losses: 23 Aircraft 139 tanks 108 APCs 1,399 vehicles |
5,453 killed 2,409 wounded 275 captured or missing Equipment losses: 28 Aircraft (1/2 of Air force) 72 tanks 30 APCs 90 vehicles |
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Ethiopian victory due to Soviet intervention
The Ogaden War, also known as the Ethio-Somali War, was a Somali military offensive between July 1977 and March 1978 over the disputed Ethiopian region Ogaden starting with the Somali Democratic Republic's invasion of Ethiopia. The Soviet Union disapproved of the invasion and ceased its support of Somalia to instead start supporting Ethiopia, whereas the United States conversely ceased its support of Ethiopia and started supporting Somalia. The war ended when the Americans brokered a ceasefire. Ethiopia was saved from a major defeat and a permanent loss of territory due to a massive airlift of military supplies ($7 Billion), the arrival of 16,000 Cuban troops, 1,500 Soviet advisors and 2 brigades from Yemen, also airlifted to reinforce Addis Ababa. Despite this, large parts of the Ogaden remained in Somali hands until 1980.
Following World War II, Britain retained control of both British Somaliland and Italian Somaliland as protectorates. In 1950, as a result of the Paris Peace Treaties, the United Nations granted Italy trusteeship of Italian Somaliland, but only under close supervision and on the condition—first proposed by the Somali Youth League (SYL) and other nascent Somali political organizations, such as Hizbia Digil Mirifle Somali (HDMS) and the Somali National League (SNL)—that Somalia achieve independence within ten years. British Somaliland remained a protectorate of Britain until 1960.
In 1948, under pressure from their World War II allies and to the dismay of the Somalis, the British returned the Haud (an important Somali grazing area that was presumably 'protected' by British treaties with the Somalis in 1884 and 1886) and the Ogaden to Ethiopia, based on a treaty they signed in 1897 in which the British, French and Italians agreed upon the territorial boundaries of Ethiopia with the Ethiopian Emperor Menelik in exchange for his help against raids by hostile clans. Britain included the provison that the Somali residents would retain their autonomy, but Ethiopia immediately claimed sovereignty over the area. This prompted an unsuccessful bid by Britain in 1956 to buy back the Somali lands it had turned over. Britain also granted administration of the almost exclusively Somali-inhabitedNorthern Frontier District (NFD) to Kenyan nationalists despite an informal plebiscite demonstrating the overwhelming desire of the region's population to join the newly formed Somali Republic.
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Wikipedia