Ethiopian–Somali conflict

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
The earliest form of Ethiopian-Somali conflict dates back to the 14th century.

In the 14th and 15th century the rulers of the Christian Ethiopian highlands had become increasingly interested in proselytizing the coastal lands where Islam flourished, particularly in what is now northern Somalia to achieve sea access. The Ethiopian Empire sought to control the trades routes from ports such as Zeila. Abyssinian military expeditions were dispatched south-eastward from the highlands over the decades in a bid to achieve these goals, and were ultimately a significant unifying force among the Somali and other Muslim nationalities in the region.

Around the same period, the Egyptian Mamluk Sultan an-Nasir Muhammad began destroying Coptic churches. Amda Seyon I, Emperor of Ethiopia, subsequently sent a mission to Cairo in 1321-2 threatening to retaliate against the Muslims in his kingdom and divert the course of the Nile if the sultan did not end his persecution of Christians. As a result of the dispute, Haqq ad-Din I of the Ifat Sultanate seized and imprisoned the delegates sent by the Emperor as they were returning from Cairo. Amda Seyon responded by invading Ifat, which contained Somali populations, and killing many of Ifat's soldiers. Part of the army then followed him and destroyed its capital, with Amda Seyon plundering its wealth in the form of gold, silver, bronze, lead, and clothing. Amda Seyon continued his reprisals throughout all of his Muslim provinces, taking livestock, killing many inhabitants, destroying towns, and taking prisoners, who were later assimilated. This would lead to long-term hostilities and animosity between the two states, resulting in multiple Ifat rebellions against Ethiopian hegemony. The first mention of the ethnonym "Somali" dates to the reign of Emperor Yeshaq I who had one of his court officials compose a hymn celebrating a military victory over the Sultan of Ifat's eponymous troops.

1500s
According to Professor Richard Greenfields, "In the 16th century the number and size of Abyssinian raiding parties, and consequent plunder and destruction, was on the increase. Eventually, the harassed Somali people retaliated." In 1529, Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi (Ahmad Gurey or Gragn) led the Conquest of Abyssinia (Futuh al-Habash), which brought three-quarters of the Christian polity under the power of the Muslim Adal Sultanate. Al-Ghazi's forces and their Ottoman allies came close to extinguishing the ancient Ethiopian kingdom. However, the Ethiopians managed to secure the assistance of Cristóvão da Gama's Portuguese troops and maintain their domain's autonomy. The conflict between polities reached a stalemate, as each had exhausted their resources and manpower. This resulted in the contraction of both powers and changed regional dynamics for centuries to come. Many historians trace the origins of modern hostility between Somalia and Ethiopia to this war. Some scholars also argue that this conflict proved, through their use on both sides, the value of firearms such as the matchlock musket, cannons and the arquebus over traditional weapons.

Menelik's invasions (1890–1905)
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 Wal Wal 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
After Italy lost control of Italian Somaliland and Eritrea during the Second World War, these regions came under British military administration. It was during this period that Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie expressed a keen interest in both territories, which his government deemed as 'lost provinces' of the empire. He laid claim to them openly, asserting that the ancient Somali coastal region of Banaadir, which encompasses Mogadishu, as well as the adjacent Indian Ocean coastline, rightfully belonged to Ethiopia based on historical grounds. Following the conclusion of World War II and the establishment of the United Nations, Ethiopia submitted a memorandum to the UN, contending that prior to the era of European colonialism, the Ethiopian empire had encompassed the Indian Ocean coastline of Italian Somaliland. The Ethiopian government of Haile Selassie published a memorandum titled 'On the return of Eritrea and Somaliland ' which stated:"'In view of the abject misery of the Eritrean and Somali populations under fifty years of Italian occupation...It is firmly claimed that with the forfeiture of Italian rule, Eritrea and Somaliland should revert to their mother country. To provide for such a return would be merely to recognize the realities of the existing historical and other ties which bind them integrally to Ethiopia.'"

Ogaden and Haud transfer
In 1948, the British Military Administration, which had been in control of the Somali inhabited Ogaden region since WWII, commenced a withdrawal. This transition saw the replacement of British officials with Ethiopian counterparts between May and July of that year in a significant handover process. In the town of Jijiga, incoming Ethiopian authorities instructed the Somali Youth League (SYL) to remove their flag, as they had declared both the party and its emblem as unlawful. The SYL defied this directive, leading to the flag being machine-gunned by an armored vehicle. This event escalated following the killing of a police officer after a grenade was thrown of the roof of the SYL headquarters. The police responded by firing into a crowd of protesters killing 25. Following this incident, Ethiopian administration resumed in Jijiga for the first time in 13 years. Then, on 23 September 1948, following the withdrawal of British forces and the appointment of Ethiopian district commissioners, areas east of Jijiga were placed under Ethiopian governance for the first time in history.

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), the Reserve area and the Ogaden to Ethiopia, based on a treaty they signed in 1897 in which the British ceded Somali territory to the Ethiopian Emperor Menelik in exchange for his help against raids by Somali clans. Britain included a clause 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. Disgruntlement with the 1948 decision led to repeated attempts by Somali parties to re-unite the ceded Ogaden, Reserve area and Haud region with the other Somali territories in Greater Somalia. Major clashes over the disputed region include:


 * 1964 Border War
 * 1977–1978 Ogaden War
 * 1982 Border War

Ethiopian intervention in Somali Civil War (1996–2006)
The first incursion by Ethiopian troops after the fall of the central Somali government took place in August 1996. In March 1999, Ethiopian troops reportedly raided the Somali border town of Balanballe in pursuit of members of the Al-Ittihad Al-Islamiya group which had been fighting to unite Ethiopia's eastern Ogaden region with Somalia.

In April 1999 two major Somali leaders, Ali Mahdi and Hussein Aideed, said in an official protest to the United Nations Security Council, that heavily armed Ethiopian troops entered the towns of Beledhawo and Doollow on Friday, April 9, 1999. They further alleged that the Ethiopian troops had taken over the local administration and detained officials in the towns. In May 1999, Ethiopian soldiers, with the help of a pro-Ethiopian Somali faction occupied the town of Luuq in southwestern Somalia, close to the borders with Ethiopia and Kenya. In late June 1999, Ethiopian soldiers, supported by armoured vehicles launched an attack from Luuq that resulted in the capture of Garba Harre in the Gedo region, which was previously controlled by the Somali National Front led by Hussein Aideed. The attack was apparently aimed at flushing out Ethiopian rebels based in Somalia.

Ethiopia–TNG conflict (2000–2004)
Ethiopia backed a coalition of warlords in order to undermine an attempt at restoring a government in Somalia when the Transitional National Government (TNG) under President Abdiqasim Salad Hassan formed in 2000. Before becoming president of the Ethiopian backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG) during 2004, Abdullahi Yusuf - a powerful warlord, was a member of the coalition. The Ethiopian government claimed the TNG was staffed by members of Al-Ittihad Al-Islamiya. Although an attempt was made to improve relations between Ethiopia and the TNG in June 2001, relations only really improved in 2004 when Abdullahi Yusuf became president of the new TFG. Ethiopia then reversed its position and began to support the interim government, especially against the Islamic Courts Union.

Over the early 2000's, Ethiopia has supported and is alleged to have supported a number of different Somali factions at one time or another. Among these are the Somali Reconstruction and Restoration Council (SRRC), Muse Sudi Yalahow, General Mohammed Said Hirsi Morgan (allied to the Somali Patriotic Movement or SPM), Hassan Mohamed Nur Shatigudud and his Rahanwein Resistance Army (RRA) and Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed (former President of Puntland and current Somali TNG President). A number of Somali warlord factions have also held meetings and formed loose alliances in Ethiopia.

Incursions in Puntland and Gedo regions
In January 2001, Somalia's TNG Prime Minister, Ali Khalif Galaydh, strongly accused Ethiopia of arming factions opposed to the government, occupying Somali districts and increasing its military presence in the country. He later claimed that Ethiopian soldiers had occupied towns in Somalia's southwestern region, and had detained and intimidated its nationals; the Ethiopian government denied these charges. In November 2001, Abdullahi Yusuf attacked Garowe with 1,000 Ethiopian troops backed by armoured vehicles in order halt the election of political rival Jama Ali Jama as the president of Puntland state. The Ethiopians withdrew the day following the incident. Ethiopian troops finally ousted Jama and install Yusuf six months later in May 2002. Yusuf claimed his political rivals were backed by Al-Ittihad. Reports in early January, 2002 indicated that around 300 Ethiopian soldiers were deployed in Garowe (capital of Puntland) with other Ethiopian troops reportedly moving into the neighbouring Bay region and around Baidoa. The Ethiopian government denied these reports and accused the interim government of spreading "malicious lies" about Ethiopia's policy towards Somalia.

In May 2002, Ethiopian troops launched an incursion into Gedo to support militias fighting against the Transitional National Government. Ethiopian soldiers again attacked and temporarily captured the border town of Beledhawo on 15 May 2002 with the help of the SRRC after the town had been captured by a rival militia. During the raid, the commander of the rival militia, Colonel Abdirizak Issak Bihi, was captured by the Ethiopian forces and taken across the border to Ethiopia. After the raid, control of the town was turned over to the SRRC. Earlier in May, Colonel Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed had retaken control of Puntland by ousting his rival Jama Ali Jama with the aid of the Ethiopian army. In February 2003, Ethiopia's Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, admitted that Ethiopian troops were occasionally sent into Somalia to battle the militant Islamist group, Al-Ittihad and stated that the group was linked to Al-Qaeda. He also claimed that Ethiopia's government had lists of Al-Ittihad members who were, at the time, in the Transitional National Government and parliament of Somalia; a claim that TNG President Abdiqasim Salad Hassan has consistently denied. President Hassan has in turn, accused Ethiopia of destabilizing Somalia, interfering daily in Somali affairs and violating the arms embargo on Somalia by supplying weapons to warlords opposed to the Transitional Government at the time; Ethiopia denied these charges.

Ethiopian invasion & occupation of Somalia (2006–2009)
The Ethiopian government heavily backed Abdullahi Yusuf's presidency and the formation of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in 2004 on the grounds that Yusuf would give up Somalia's long standing claim to the Ogaden. The rise of the Islamic Courts Union raised Ethiopian concerns of an eventual renewed drive for a Greater Somalia, as a strong Somali state not dependent on Addis Ababa was perceived as a security threat. British television station Channel 4 acquired a leaked document detailing a confidential meeting between senior American and Ethiopian officials in Addis Ababa, involving no Somalis, six months prior to the full scale invasion of Somalia during December 2006. The Ethiopians and Americans deliberated on various scenarios, with the 'worst-case scenario' being the potential takeover of Somalia by the Islamic Courts Union. The documents revealed that the US found the prospect unacceptable and would back Ethiopia in the event of an ICU takeover. Journalist Jon Snow reported that during the meeting ‘the blueprint for a very American supported Ethiopian invasion of Somalia was hatched’.

By the end of the second year of the Ethiopian military occupation, the majority of the territory seized from the Islamic Courts Union during the December 2006 and January 2007 invasion had fallen under the control of various Islamist and nationalist resistance groups. On 12 January 2009, the last ENDF troops withdrew from Mogadishu, ending the two year long occupation of the capital. The occupation largely failed. By the time of the withdrawal, the TFG possessed control over only a few streets and buildings in Mogadishu with the rest of the city coming under control of Islamist factions, particularly Al-Shabaab. The withdrawal of Ethiopian troops sapped Al-Shabaab of the widespread support it had enjoyed from Somali civilians and across clan lines as a resistance faction during the occupation, but came too late to have a substantial impact on the group's transformation into a formidable oppositional force. Al-Shabaab battle hardened over the Ethiopian occupation and notably began governing territory for the first time in 2008. Instead of eliminating 'Jihadist' activity in Somalia, the Ethiopian invasion had the effect of creating more 'Jihadis' than had existed in the country before. By the time of the ENDF withdrawal, Al-Shabaab's forces had grown significantly in numbers, swelling from a few hundred to several thousand fighters strong since the invasion began.

After the killing of the groups leader Aden Hashi Ayro in 2008, Al-Shabaab began publicly courting Osama bin Laden in a bid to become part of Al-Qaeda, but was rebuffed by bin Laden. Following his death, Al-Shabaab pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda in 2012. In 2024, Somalia's Minister of Justice Hassan Mo'allin Mohamoud publicly stated the wave of terrorism the country is experiencing was the 'direct result' of the 2006 invasion.

AMISOM/ATMIS and non-AU Ethiopian forces (2014–Present)
In 2014, Ethiopia was formerly integrated into the African Union Mission in Somalia, which has now transitioned to the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia. When Ethiopia joined the peacekeeping force, AMISOM spokesman Ali Aden Humad claimed that this time was 'different' from 2006 and that Ethiopia would have to respect rules of engagement.

In April 2024, the Somali government expelled Ethiopia's ambassador for interference in internal affairs and recalled its envoy from Addis Ababa. On 24 June 2024, Somalia's ambassador to the United Nations reported that Ethiopian troops had made illegal incursions across the border, resulting in a confrontations with local Somali security forces.