Word: somalian
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...between Ethiopia and Somalia in the Horn of Africa ground grimly on last week. On the battlefield the Ethiopians and their Soviet and Cuban advisers, who are now thought to total about 6,000, were clearly gaining in their drive to oust Somalian forces from Ethiopia's Ogaden desert region. But if the Somalis were running scared, there was little sign of it in their capital, Mogadishu. The mood was all but jubilant, as the government announced a general mobilization and inducted 30,000 volunteers, including women and 15-year-olds, in a national militia...
...have settled in for a long campaign to push the Somalis out of the Ogaden, the war could end fairly quickly if the Somalis decide to pull their army back, intact, behind their border. Indeed there was some indication that they were withdrawing their heavy artillery. But according to Somalian officials, this merely signals a shift back to guerrilla tactics against the Ethiopian forces. If the Somalians do execute a full retreat, there is now no serious concern that the Ethiopians will try to occupy any Somali territory, although in their discussions with U.S. diplomats in Addis Ababa, Soviet officials...
Since November, Ethiopian troops have held the Somalian soldiers, just short of Harar, where Ethiopia has amassed its new Soviet weaponry for a counter-offensive it hopes will reverse the losses of the last six months...
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...
...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 thing is to provide an alternative to the terrible bloodshed that is coming...