Word: ethiopia
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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MADAWEIN, Ethiopia--Ethiopian air and artillery forces heavily bombarded Somali positions along the Ogaden battle front, driving the Somali troops from strategic positions on the road to the Ethiopian outpost at Harar...
...area and for some reason thought it could curry favor with its new friends in Addis Ababa without antagonizing Somalia's President, Mohamed Siad Barre, who had been the Kremlin's closest ally in northeast Africa. But angered by Moscow's growing involvement with Ethiopia, a traditional Somali enemy, Barre kicked the Russians out of his country last November and closed down the big Soviet military base on the Red Sea at Berbera...
...Russians may want to establish a new base at Massawa, though Moscow already has naval and air facilities in both South Yemen and Aden. Ethiopia could prove to be a mini-Viet Nam for the Russians even though, as the second most populous nation in black Africa (pop. 29 million), it offers them a more attractive springboard than Somalia from which to jump into African affairs and establish a strong presence along the Persian Gulf tanker routes...
Though U.S. officials are now seriously concerned about the Soviet and Cuban buildup in Ethiopia, Washington has resisted repeated Somalian requests for military aid. Somalia's position is difficult for the West to endorse wholeheartedly: as the aggressor in the Ogaden, it has embarrassed the Organization of African Unity, whose charter forbids any breaching of established borders. Says one U.S. African expert: "Sending military aid now would open a Pandora...
That situation could change should Ethiopia invade Somalia. In that event, the Shah of Iran and Egypt's Anwar Sadat have already offered to help. Somalia is meanwhile getting "nonmilitary" financial assistance from West Germany, partly out of gratitude for the decision to allow West German commandos to fly into Mogadishu and rescue 86 hostages in the Lufthansa hijacking last October. For the moment, the West is backing the OAU committee which is seeking a negotiated settlement to the Ethiopian-Somalian conflict. Says an African diplomat in Nairobi: "It's a difficult question but not insoluble. The important...