Ethiopia Military

This blog is all about the brief biography of Emperor Haile Selassie I and the major events attached to his reign in Ethiopia.

Haile Selassie was born Tafari Makonnen in Ethiopia in 1892. He married Wayzaro Menen in 1911, daughter of Emperor Menelik II.

By becoming prince (Ras), Tafari became the focus of the Christian majority’s approval over Menelik’s grandson, Lij Yasu, because of his progressive nature and the latter’s unreliable politics.

He was named regent and heir to the throne in 1917, but had to wait until the death of the Empress Zauditu to assume full kingship.

During the years of 1917-1928, Tafari traveled to such cities as Rome, Paris, and London to become the first Ethiopian ruler to ever go abroad.

In November of 1930, Zaubitu died and Tafari was crowned emperor, the 111th emperor in the succession of King Solomon. Upon this occasion he took the name Haile Selassie, meaning “Might of the Trinity.”

This blog will spotlight on Selassie’s progressive politics and attempts to modernize Ethiopia through technological advances and membership in the world community.

Relevant to these topics is Ethiopia’s struggle with Italy in World War II, Selassie’s embracing of the League of Nations, and his popularity and attention worldwide because of his efforts towards humanitarianism and Ethiopian sovereignty.

Ethiopia was a culturally and resourcefully rich land recognized by the European colonial powers as sovereign from as early as 1900.

Selassie’s predecessor expanded his empire successfully in the 1880’s and formed treaties with the Italians, who recognized the imperial potential of northern Africa.

Relations became strained, yet, in the 1890’s when Britain and Italy agreed that Ethiopia should fall under Italian influence.

Despite infrequent conflicts, Ethiopia under Menelik remained sovereign, and thus we see a stage set for the leadership of Selassie.

Selassie took steps to improve legislation, bureaucracy, government schooling, and health and social services in preparation for his new reign.

More importantly in a diplomatic focus, Selassie acted to promote Ethiopian power and sovereignty and secure allies abroad.

In 1919 Ethiopia applied for membership into the League of Nations but wasn’t allowed because its practice of slavery was still strong. By 1923, working with the Empress Zauditu, the slave trade was abolished and Ethiopia was unanimously accepted into the League.

Before he came to power, Selassie promoted a twenty year treaty of friendship with Italy in 1928 and established legislation in 1930 to ban illegal sales of arms in Ethiopia, and to establish the government’s right to procure arms for protection and internal unrest.

In 1931, Selassie established the first Ethiopian constitution, which aimed to re-focus governmental power from many rases to his blood line solely.

It was useful in aiding Ethiopia’s modernization through bureaucracy and solidarity, and forced the many regional rases to either oppose him treasonably or join him with their support.

Much of Selassie’s loyalty was fostered by the building of schools, universities, and newspapers, as well as increased availability of electricity, telephone, and public health services. The Bank of Ethiopia was also founded in 1931 and introduced Ethiopian currency.

Though the changes in Ethiopia sponsored by Selassie and his new progressive government seemed very promising, there lingered a new threat to the growing country when Benito Mussolini came to power in Italy in 1922.

The north African colony of Eritrea, held by the Italians, was harmonious in its African/Italian co-existence from the 1890’s until 1922, when Mussolini’s administration began to emphasize the superiority of Italian inhabitants, and even enforced the segregation of the population.

As late as 1928, motions of peace were made by Italy, but it seemed as though Mussolini wanted Eritrea only as a strategic base for future conquest in Africa.

In December 1934, there was an incident seemingly provoked by Italian forces which involved an Ethiopian escort to the Welwel wells used by desert nomads.

The League of Nations exonerated both parties in the battle in September 1935, and it seemed to Mussolini that he would not be condemned for his future hostilities.

Italy invaded Ethiopia one month later without declaring war; the League of Nations condemned Italy as the aggressor, but no actions were taken.

The fighting persisted for seven months, and Ethiopia was pushed back quite forcefully. Selassie found his forces unmatched militarily and was shocked at the use of chemical weapons by Italy, and the lack of action taken by the League of Nations.

He was forced to exile on May 2 of 1936, a move which raised harsh criticism from many who were used to a warrior emperor of Ethiopia.

On June 30, Haile Selassie went to Geneva to seek help from the League of Nations. He made a powerful speech in which he addressed the lack of enforcement of the Italian arms embargo, and quite effectively illustrated the consequences of the League’s stifled actions: either there would exist collective security or international lawlessness.

His speech was taken quite emotionally by audiences around the world, especially in America, where he achieved much sympathy.

Selassie succeeded in raising the support of the United States and Russia, at least verbally, but Britain and France still recognized the Italian possession of Ethiopia by Italy.

While Selassie was in exile, the Italian forces established new government and attempted to crush the continuing revolts by massacres and segregation.

In Britain for most of his exile, he attempted to raise public support for the plight of his country, but gained little attention until Italy entered the war on the side of Germany in June 1940.

After the entrance, Britain and Selassie worked together to rally the remaining revolutionary forces in Ethiopia. He proceeded to Khartoum in 1940 to be in closer contact with his troops and British coordinators.

With an army of British, South African, African, and Ethiopian soldiers, Haile Selassie re-entered Addis Ababa on May 5, 1941, but fighting continued on Ethiopian soil until January 1942.

Came to power, Selassie, he realized the necessity of a dependable tax base and issued a flat tax based on the richness of the land.

Unluckily, the nobles of several provinces battled the tax and the path was lain for opposition to the newly re-established government.

Selassie backed down from his new tax brackets and issued a flat tithe to all noble landowners who resisted, but this merely passed the tax on to the tenants of the regions, who carried the entire burden of taxation.

Within his country, Selassie favored political realism, and attempted to make peace with the many Ethiopian factions- ethnic, religious, and economic- through appeasement and compromise.

Selassie’s major changes in form of the Ethiopian government promised huge reforms, and when these were realized to be slowly obtained, a coup d’état occurred in Addis Ababa in December 1960, while Selassie was abroad on one of his frequent diplomatic missions.

While initially successful, the coup led by the Imperial Bodyguard, police chief, and intellectual radicals lacked the public support necessary, and fell upon the return of the emperor and his assertion of the loyalty of the army and air force, as well as the church.

The coup’s failure did, however lead to the polarization of the traditional and progressive factions, and the public awareness of the need to improve the economic, social, and political position of the population.

After the coup, Selassie tried to calm his opponents mostly through land grants to officials, but with little social or political reform.

In 1966, a plan to reform the tax system with intent to destroy the landowners grasp on the economy was drafted, but opposed vigorously by the parliament, who was all landowners.

In early June, a group of about 120 military officers formed a group known as the Derg (committee) who represented the military and worked behind closed doors to gain power militarily.

Although they claimed allegiance to the emperor, they began arresting aristocracy and parliament members who were associated with the old order.

This group effectively removed Selassie’s means of governing, as they had complete military control.

The emperor’s estate and palace were nationalized and in August, Selassie was directly accused of covering up famine of the early 1970’s which killed hundreds of thousands of people.

On September 12th, he was formally deposed and arrested and power was given to the Derg, formally renamed the Provisional Military Administrative Council.

In August 1975, His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie died under questionable circumstances under house arrest, and was secretly buried.

The old order was effectively shattered by 1977, and the Derg began its new agenda of socialism in the Ethiopian government.

Keywords: Haile Selassie, Tafari Makonnen, Wayzaro Menen, Emperor Menelik II, Lij Yasu, Empress Zauditu, Empress Zauditu, Benito Mussolini, Welwel wells,

Emperor Menelik II played a significant role in Ethiopian history. Here in this blog we don’t cover all the major events during his reign in detail but give you highlights of the major ones.

Proclaimed to be a descendant of the legendary Queen of Sheba and King Solomon, Menelik II was a prominent figure of his time in Africa. And he made a lot of political and economical forms in his country.

He united a group of independent kingdoms into the strong, stable empire known as the United States of Abyssinia, otherwise known as Ethiopia. 

His achievement of pulling together several kingdoms, which often violently opposed each other, earned him a place as one of the great statesmen of African history.

His further deeds in bringing Ethiopia into the twentieth century, coupled with his stunning victory over Italy in the 1896 Battle of Adwa, in their attempt to invade his country, put him among the great leaders of world history and maintained his country’s independence.

Menelik II was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1889 until his death in 1913. He was originally Ras or ruler of Shoa in central Ethiopia.

After the death in 1868 of Emperor Tewodros II, Menelik, with Italian support, gained strength. He seized the throne after Emperor Johannes IV died.

In 1889, Menelik concluded the Treaty of Uccialli with Italy.  Nevertheless, when he found out that the Italian version of the treaty was different from his Amharic version, basically making Ethiopia a protectorate of Italy, he rejected the agreement.

The Italian invasion that followed in 1895–96 was crushed by Menelik’s great victory near Adwa with great assistance from his wife Empress Taitu.

Italy was forced to give up all claims to Ethiopia and to pay an indemnity. Then after, Menelik took important steps to strengthen and modernize his domain.

It was in his time that Addis Ababa made his capital, constructed a railroad, attempted to end the slave trade, and curbed the feudal nobility.

His conquests widened the size of the country and brought the present day southern Ethiopia, which was largely Muslim, into the realm.

Progressively his health failed, and the end of his reign was marked by intrigue and maneuvering for the succession due to his lack of a living male heir. He was succeeded as emperor by his grandson Lij Yasu.

It is interesting to note that a young man who in 1911 married Menelik’s daughter Wayzaro Menen, was now working his way up in the ranks and would later become Ethiopia’s last emperor, Haile Salassie.

Keywords: Menelik II, Ethiopia, Queen of Sheba, King Solomon, Abyssinia, Ras, Battle of Adwa, Shoa, Uccialli, Treaty of Uccialli, Lij Yasu, Haile Salassie, Wayzaro Menen,

Origins of the war: While the cause of the conflict was the desire of the Somali government of Siad Barre to incorporate the Somali-inhabited Ogaden region of Ethiopia into a Greater Somalia, it is unlikely Barre would have ordered the invasion if circumstances had not turned in his favor.

Ethiopia had historically dominated the region. By the beginning of the war, the Somali National Army (SNA) was only 35,000-men strong and was vastly outnumbered by the Ethiopian forces.

Nevertheless, throughout the 1970s, Somalia was the recipient of large amounts of Soviet military aid. The SNA had three times the tank force of Ethiopia, as well as a larger air force.

Even as Somalia gained military strength, Ethiopia grew weaker. In September 1974, Emperor Haile Selassie had been overthrown by the Derg (the military council), marking a period of turmoil.

The Derg quickly fell into internal conflict to determine who would have primacy. Meanwhile, various anti-Derg as well as separatist movements began throughout the country. The regional balance of power now favored Somalia.

One of the separatist groups seeking to take advantage of the chaos was the pro-Somalia Western Somali Liberation Front (WSLF) operating in the Somali-inhabited Ogaden area, which by late 1975 had struck numerous government outposts. From 1976 to 1977, Somalia supplied arms and other aid to the WSLF.

A sign that order had been restored among the Derg was the announcement of Mengistu Haile Mariam as head of state on 11 February 1977.

Nevertheless, the country remained in chaos as the military attempted to suppress its civilian opponents.

Despite the violence, the Soviet Union, which had been closely observing developments, came to believe that Ethiopia was developing into a genuine Marxist-Leninist state and that it was in Soviet interests to aid the new regime.

They thus secretly approached Mengistu with offers of aid that he accepted. Ethiopia closed the U.S. military mission and the communications center in April 1977.

In June 1977, Mengistu accused Somalia of infiltrating SNA soldiers into the Somali area to fight alongside the WSLF.

Despite considerable evidence to the contrary, Barre insisted that no such thing was occurring, but that SNA “volunteers” were being allowed to help the WSLF.

Somalia decided to make a decisive move and invaded the Ogaden at 13 July 1977 (5 Hamle, 1969), according to Ethiopian documents (some other sources state 23 July).

According to Ethiopian sources, they numbered 70,000 troops, 40 fighter planes, 250 tanks, 350 APCs, and 600 artillery, which would have meant practically the whole Somalian Army.

By the end of the month 60% of the Ogaden had been taken by the SNA-WSLF force, including Gode, on the Shabelle River.

The attacking forces did suffer some early setbacks; Ethiopian defenders at Dire Dawa and Jijiga inflicted heavy casualties on assaulting forces.

The Ethiopian Air Force (EAF) also began to establish air superiority using its Northrop F-5s, despite being initially outnumbered by Somali MiG-21s.

The USSR, finding itself supplying both sides of a war, attempted to mediate a ceasefire. When their efforts failed, the Soviets abandoned Somalia.

All aid to Siad Barre’s regime was halted, while arms shipments to Ethiopia were increased.

Soviet military aid, only second in magnitude to the October 1973 gigantic resupplying of Syrian forces during the Yom Kippur war, plus Soviet advisors flooded into the country along with around 15,000 Cuban combat troops.

Other Communist countries offered assistance: the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen offered military assistance and North Korea helped train a “People’s Militia”; East Germany likewise offered training, engineering and support troops.

As the scale of Communist assistance became clear in November 1977, Somalia broke diplomatic relations with the U.S.S.R. and expelled all Soviet citizens from the country.

Not all communist states sided with Ethiopia. Due to the Sino-Soviet rivalry, China supported Somalia diplomatically as well as with token military aid.

Romania under Nicolae Ceau?escu had a habit of breaking with Soviet policies and maintained good diplomatic relations with Siad Barre.

The greatest single victory of the SNA-WSLF was a second assault on Jijiga in mid-September, in which the demoralized Ethiopian troops withdrew from the town.

The local defenders were no match for the assaulting Somalis and the Ethiopian military was forced to withdraw past the strategic strongpoint of the Marda Pass, halfway between Jijiga and Harar.

By September Ethiopia was forced to admit that it controlled only about 10% of the Ogaden and that the Ethiopian defenders had been pushed back into the non-Somali areas of Harerge, Bale, and Sidamo.

Nevertheless, the Somalis were unable to press their advantage because of the high level of attrition among its tank battalions, constant Ethiopian air attacks on their supply lines, and the onset of the rainy season, which made the dirt roads unusable.

During that time, the Ethiopian government managed to raise a giant militia force in its 100,000s and integrated it into the regular fighting force.

Also, since the Ethiopian army was a client of U.S weapons, hasty acclimatization to the new Warsaw-pact bloc weaponry took place.

From October 1977 until January 1978, the SNA-WSLF forces attempted to capture Harar, where 40,000 Ethiopians backed by Soviet-supplied artillery and armor had regrouped with 1500 Soviet advisors and 11,000 Cuban soldiers.

Though it reached the city outskirts by November, the Somali force was too exhausted to take the city and was eventually forced to retreat outside and await an Ethiopian counterattack.

The expected Ethiopian-Cuban attack occurred in early February. Nevertheless, it was accompanied by a second attack that the Somalis were not expecting.

A column of Ethiopian and Cuban troops crossed northeast into the highlands between Jijiga and the border with Somalia, bypassing the SNA-WSLF force defending the Marda Pass.

The attackers were thus able to assault from two directions in a “pincer” action, allowing the re-capturing of Jijiga in only two days while killing 3,000 defenders.

The Somali defense collapsed and every major Ethiopian town was recaptured in the following weeks.

Recognizing that his position was untenable, Siad Barre ordered the SNA to retreat back into Somalia on 9 March 1978. The last significant Somali unit left Ethiopia on 15 March 1978, marking the end of the war.

Effects of the war
Following the removal of the SNA, the WSLF continued their insurgency. By May 1980, the rebels, with the assistance of a small number of SNA soldiers who continued to help the guerilla war, controlled a substantial region of the Ogaden.

Nevertheless by 1981 the insurgents were reduced to sporadic hit-and-run attacks and were finally defeated.

The Ogaden War weakened the Somali military. Almost one-third of the regular SNA soldiers, one and a half-quarters of the armored units and half of the Somali Air Force (SAF) were lost.

The weakness of the Barre regime led it to effectively abandon the dream of a unified Greater Somalia.

The failure of the war aggravated discontent with the Barre regime; the first organized opposition group, the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF), was formed by army officers in 1979.

The United States adopted Somalia as a Cold War client state from the late 1970s to 1988 in exchange for use of Somali bases, as well as a way to exert influence upon the region.

A second armed clash in 1988 was resolved when the two countries agreed to withdraw their militaries from the border.

Ogaden War
Somalia invaded the Ogaden region and starting the Ogaden War. Fighting erupted as Somalia attempted a temporary shift in the regional balance of power in their favour by occupying the Ogaden region.

The Soviet Union switched from supplying Somalia to supporting Ethiopia, which had previously been backed by the United States.

The war ended when Somali forces retreated back across the border and a ceasefire was declared.

Ethiopia was able to defeat the Somolian forces with the aid of the USSR and South Yemen. This was the first conflict in which the Mi-24 was used.

Historical conditions
A broader perspective illustrates many incidents of Ethiopian-Somali conflict. Boundary clashes over the Ogaden region date to the 1948 settlement when the land was granted to Ethiopia.

Somali dissatisfaction with this decision has led to repeated attempts to invade Ethiopia with the hopes of taking control of the Ogaden to create a Greater Somalia.

This plan would have reunited the Somali people of the Ethiopian-controlled Ogaden with those living in the Republic of Somalia. Shy of that, ethnic and political tensions have caused cross-border clashes over the years.

• 1960-1964 Border Dispute
• 1977-1978 Ogaden War
• 1982 August Border Clash
• 1998-2000 Cross-border warfare during the chaotic warlord-led era

Conflicts between Ethiopia and Somalia are not limited to the 20th-21st Centuries. Wars between Somalia, or its forerunner Islamic states, and Ethiopia, stretch back to the 16th century.

Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi was a 16th century Islamic leader of Adal popular in Somali culture for his jihad against the Ethiopians during the rise of the Adal Sultanate (a multi-ethnic former vassal kingdom of Ethiopia).

Thus, painful living history, oral and cultural traditions, long-standing ethnic divisions and sectarian differences lay between the two nations and fuel the conflict.

Keywords: Siad Barre, Ogaden region, Somali National Army, Soviet military aid, Derg, Mengistu, Gode, Shabelle River, Dire Dawa, Jijiga, Ethiopian Air Force, Siad Barre, Harerge, Bale, Sidamo, Harar, Ogaden War,

History of Ethiopian involvement: The first incursion by Ethiopian troops after the fall of the central Somali government took place in August 1996.

In March 1999, Ethiopian troops seemingly raided the Somali border town of Balanballe in pursuit of members of the Al-Ittihad Al-Islamiya group which has been combating to unite Ethiopia’s eastern Ogaden region with Somalia.

Afterward, in April 1999 two 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 Dolo 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 Luq 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 Luq that resulted in the capture the town of Garba Harre in the Gedo region, which was previously controlled by the Somali National Front lead by Hussein Aideed.

The attack was apparently aimed at flushing out Ethiopian rebels based in Somalia.

After the formation of the Transitional National Government (TNG) of Somalia in August 2000, Ethiopia at first did not recognize the interim government and reportedly continued its raids against Al-Ittihad and supporting various warlord factions, which lead to very stressed relations between the Ethiopian government and the interim Somali government denials and counter-accusations on both sides.

In January 2001, Somalia’s TNG Prime Minister, Ali Khalif Galaid, sturdily accused Ethiopia of arming factions opposed to the government, occupying Somali districts and increasing its military presence in the country.

He afterward 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.

Ethiopia has supported and is supposed 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
• Hassan Mohamed Nur Shatigudud and his Rahanwein Resistance Army (RRA)
• Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed (former President of Puntland and current Somali TNG President).

Reports near the beginning of January, 2002 indicated that around 300 Ethiopian soldiers were positioned in Garowe (capital of Puntland) with other Ethiopian troops allegedly moving into the neighbouring Bay region and around Baidoa.

The Ethiopian government didn’t accept these reports and accused the interim government of spreading “malicious lies” about Ethiopia’s policy towards Somalia.

Ethiopian soldiers again attacked and momentarily captured the border town of Beledhawo on Wednesday, May 15.

During the attack, 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 attack, 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 sporadically sent into Somalia to fight the militant Islamist group, Al-Ittihad and affirmed that the group was connected to Al-Qaeda.

He also asserted 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, blamed 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.

Although an attempt was made to perk up relations between Ethiopia and the TNG  relations only really improved in 2004 when Abdullahi Yusuf became the TNG President.

Then Ethiopia reversed its position and began to support the interim government, especially against various Islamist militias in Somalia Spritgussvorlage, most recently the Islamic Courts Union.

Keywords: Balanballe, Al-Ittihad Al-Islamiya, Ogaden, Ali Mahdi, Hussein Aideed, Beledhawo, Dolo, Luq, Garowe, Colonel Abdirizak Issak Bihi, Colonel Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed,