Word: ogaden
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...that Moscow and Havana have been sending to Ethiopia, the Somalis' enemy. The Somalis had known for at least three years that the Kremlin, for all its protestations of good intentions toward Somalia, was forging new ties with Addis Ababa. Then war broke out in Ethiopia's Ogaden desert last July between Ethiopian forces and the ethnic Somalis who live there; the insurgents are backed and armed by Mogadishu. After that, the Somalis quickly realized that, as one official puts it, "our brothers were being killed by bullets supplied by the people who said they were our friends...
...probably find some kind of alternative-possibly on Ethiopia's Red Sea coastline. They have exchanged the friendship of Somalia for that of a far bigger country. But Ethiopia is an extremely fragile ally that is fighting wars in its northern province of Eritrea as well as the Ogaden, and is led by an unstable junta. Only last week the junta executed its second in command, Lieut. Colonel Atnafu Abate...
...moment, the Ogaden war remains a stalemate, with Somali forces holding most of the disputed territory and maintaining pressure on the strategic Ethiopian-held towns of Harar and Dire Dawa. Most diplomatic sources in Mogadishu believe, however, that when new shipments of heavy Soviet military equipment already in Ethiopia begin to show up in the field, the tide of battle could well turn against the Somalis...
...soon run low on fuel, spare parts and ammunition. Earlier this year, the U.S.-an ally of Ethiopia's during the late Emperor Haile Selassie's day-had thought of improving its ties with Somalia by sending some military aid. But after the Somali drive on the Ogaden began in July, Washington decided that it had better stay out of this murky conflict. The Somalis accuse the U.S. of breaking its word-although, in fact, no firm commitment was ever made...
...will it all end? "The last victor is always the one with the most resources," observes a diplomat in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. "The Somalis control the Ogaden, but how will they maintain it? The Somali people now think the W.S.L.F. is some kind of superman. There will be great disillusionment if the front should lose." Perhaps, as has happened so many times before, the war will end in a stalemate of exhaustion. But given the passions of the Ogaden, the chances are that, after an interval, the fighting will begin again...