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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 November 2008
The conflict in the Horn of Africa and its internationalisation since 1977 has stimulated many arguments in Amercian policy-making circles on whether the costs of expanded involvement in the region are coming to outweigh the strategic and other benefits. The most intense phase of this controversy has followed the post-1978 realignment of forces in the region, which transformed Somalia into an ally of the United States, and Ethiopia, long a close friend, into a Soviet ally.
page 249 note 1 This question has defined the terms of the debate since early 1976. See, for example, ‘Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa’. Hearings before the Sub-Committee on African Affairs of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Washington, D.C., 1976.
page 249 note 2 See Brind, Harry, ‘Soviet Policy in the Horn of Africa’, in International Affairs (London), 60, 1, Winter 1983/1984, pp. 75–95.Google Scholar
page 249 note 3 See ‘The Horn of Africa and United States’, Issue Brief No. IB78019, Library of Congress Research Service, 22 October 1982.
page 252 note 1 ‘America Held Hostage’ was the title of a continuing series of nightly reports and commentaries on one of the top national TV networks (ABC), lasting for several months during 1980, following the seizure of American hostages by the Khomeini régime.
page 253 note 1 The ‘Kabra Nagast’ (‘Glory of Kings’), authored by royal scribes, tells the story of the supposed journey by the Ethiopian Queen of Sheba to behold the wisdom of Solomon, who artfully seduced his unexpected visitor after being overcome by her beauty. Menelik I was claimed as the offspring of that union.
page 254 note 1 Perham, Margery, The Government of Ethiopia (Evanston, 1969).Google Scholar
page 256 note 1 More evidence has come to light to substantiate such a collusion, thanks to the U.S. Freedom of Information Act. Examples are letters written by the Defence Secretary, James Forrestal, to the Secretary of State, Dean Acheson, on 11 December 1948, indicating support for Emperor Haile Selassie's claim over Eritrea in return for the grant of strategically important naval and air facilities in Massawa and Asmara.
page 257 note 1 For a detailed discussion, see Selassie, Bereket Habte, Eritrea and the United Nations in the Eritrean Case (Brussels, 1981), published by the Permanent Peoples Tribunal.Google Scholar
page 257 note 2 Market International (New York), Ethiopia Summary, 1952.Google Scholar
page 258 note 1 By 1982, this flow had grown ten-fold to over 500,000, most living in the Sudan.
page 258 note 2 Among these are Dan Connell, representing (earlier) The Washington Post, and (later) The Guardian (London), Le Monde (Paris), and Reuters (London); Bimbi, Guido, representing some left-wing Italian papers; Gérard Chaliand and Jean-Louis Peninou of Libération (Paris), and Mary Dines of War on Want (London). Several films have also been made depicting life in the liberated areas.Google Scholar
page 258 note 3 Equally ominous to the Dergue is the emergence of a T.P.L.F.-supported all-Ethiopian fighting front called the Ethiopian Peoples Democratic Movement, now operating in the central Province of Wollo and parts of Begemidar (Gondar). The E.P.D.M. is also recognised by the E.P.L.F., and aims to replace the Dergue by a democratic government.
page 259 note 1 The Tigrayan People's Liberation Front and the Oromo Liberation Front have recognised each other. See statements made by the T.P.L.F. central committee member, Kahsai, Asfaha, in Horn of Africa (Summit, N.J.), IV, 3, 1981, and by the O.L.F.Google Scholar central committee member, Ahmed Buna, in Ibid. III, 3, 1982. Although no statement has yet been made about how the O.L.F. views the E.P.D.M. and vice versa, the latter organisation recognises the right of any nationality for self-determination and, hence, presumbly Eritrea's right to independence. The E.P.D.M.'s first Congress, held in Derbie, North-West Ethiopia, was attended by a central committee member from the E.P.L.F., as revealed in its newsletter, Eritrean Bulletin (Paris), 2, 31 12 1983.Google Scholar
page 261 note 1 See Halliday, Fred and Molyneux, Maxine, The Ethiopian Revolution (London, 1981), pp. 215–16.Google Scholar
page 261 note 2 See ‘Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa’, Hearings Before the Sub-Committee on African Affairs of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Washington, D.C., 1976.
page 263 note 1 Farer, Tom J., War Clouds on the Horn of Africa: the widening storm (Washington, D.C., 1979). See also Halliday and Molyneux, op. cit. p. 220.Google Scholar
page 264 note 1 See Hearings Before the Sub-Committee on African Affairs of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
page 264 note 2 Ibid.
page 267 note 1 For example, U.S. Congressman Howard Wolpe voiced such criticisms as Chairman of the House Sub-Committee on Africa. Congressional Record, v, 128, 18 08 1982.Google Scholar
page 268 note 1 By 1980, the number of Somali refugees had reached the million mark according to a report by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. In Eritrea the ill-fated 5th offensive began around this time, sending new waves of Eritrea refugees to the Sudan, which number some 500,000 according to the U.N.H.C.R.
page 268 note 2 Wolpe, op. cit.
page 269 note 1 Ibid. The U.S. response to this Somali appeal included communications equipment, anti-tank weapons, light arms, and ammunitions, worth at least $20 million according to a survey of the Institute of International and Strategic Studies for 1982–3.
page 269 note 2 Farer, Tom, ‘Soviet Strategy and Western Fears’, in Africa Report (Washington), 11–12 1978.Google Scholar
page 269 note 3 Ibid.
page 269 note 4 Fears of such instability have revived with the emergence of Anya Naya 2, a rebellion in Southern Sudan which the Numeiri régime claims is trained and assisted by the Dergue and by Libya's Muammar Qadhafi. Recent military activities include kidnapping and killing of personnel of the U.S. oil corporation Chevron. Numeiri's decree to extend Islamic law to the South had added fuel to the fire.
page 270 note 1 According to The Economist (London), 13 02 1983, U.S. military aid for 1982–1983 amounted to $65 million, with more promised for 1983–1984. But no tanks or aircraft have yet been forthcoming, in accordance with the American policy of providing Somalia with defensive weapons only.Google Scholar
page 271 note 1 According to Brind, loc. cit. p. 95, ‘Soviet leverage, formerly in Somalia, now in Ethiopia, was and is limited. To remain in either country against the wishes of its government, even if that were possible, would undermine its position in Africa and in the Third World generally’.
