Word: ogaden
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...three belong to Somalia's neighbors-Ethiopia, Kenya and the newly independent state of Djibouti-and Somalia has designs on all of them. Last week, after 16 years of sporadic fighting, it looked as if the Somalis might be on the verge of winning their third star, the Ogaden region of Ethiopia...
Though no Western correspondents were allowed to observe the desert combat at first hand, Somalia's Radio Mogadishu reported that guerrillas of an organization known as the Western Somali Liberation Front had captured as much as 90% of the Ogaden-all, in fact, except the Ethiopian strongholds of Dire Dawa, Harar and Jijiga, where fighting was raging...
...1930s and '40s, the sands of northeast Africa were a cockpit of conflict between rival European colonial powers, chiefly Britain and Italy. Today, in both Eritrea and Ogaden, the central issue is the integrity of national boundaries, v. self-determination by individual provinces or tribal groups. The Ethiopians are resolved to retain the territory they acquired during a century of expansion. The Eritreans, whose land was an Italian colony until 1941, are fighting for independence; the Somalis are pursuing their dream of uniting the various Somali homelands under one flag. But these conflicts also have international significance. The Horn...
...been offering "defensive" arms to Somalia in an effort to wrest the Somalis from the Soviet grip. The French, for their part, are worried about both Somali and Ethiopian designs on Djibouti, which gained independence from France only two months ago. An irony of the current fighting in the Ogaden is that the Somalis are equipped with Soviet-made T-54 tanks and the Ethiopians with American-made M-60 tanks-yet the superpowers, in the years since they provided the armor, have changed sides. Actually, the Russians are still supplying a trickle of aid to the Somalis...
Barren Area. Ethiopia was also directly involved in a second wrangle involving neighboring Somalia's claim to the border province of Ogaden-a barren, sandy area populated mainly by nomadic Somalis. The area's value has increased considerably since the discovery of natural gas there. There is evidence of oil deposits as well. Eventually, after hearing statements by both sides, the O.A.U. agreed to shunt the issue off to an eight-nation "good-offices" committee, for a report next year...