Remembering History: Horn of Africa 24 Years Ago

Guerrilla Drive In Somalia Seens As Part Of A Proxy War

By ALAN COWELL, SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK TIMES
Anti-Government guerrillas in Somalia said today that they had opened two new fronts in a two-week-old campaign that is apparently part of the long-running proxy war in the Horn of Africa between Somalia and Ethiopia. The two countries have long pursued a territorial conflict over the Ogaden region of Ethiopia. The guerrilla offensive was apparently a response by the pro-Soviet Government in Addis Ababa to recent attacks in the Ogaden by Somali-backed fighters of the West Somali Liberation Front, an organization that seeks the Ogaden's independence from Ethiopia and that has its headquarters in Mogadishu, the Somali capital. The guerrillas involved in the latest offensive belong to the Somali Democratic Salvation Front, an Ethiopian-based amalgam of Somalis opposed to President Mohammed Siad Barre, a pro-Western and autocratic leader.July 16, 1982
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US Flying Arms To Somalia After Ethiopian Raids

By RICHARD HALLORAN, SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK TIMES
The State Department announced today that the United States had begun flying weapons and military equipment into Somalia to help that nation repel Ethiopian attacks across the border. No details were given, but Defense Department officials noted that Somalia had ordered air defense radar and antiaircraft weapons such as the Vulcan, which shoots rapidly at low-flying aircraft. A State Department spokesman, Rush Taylor, noting an announcement of the airlift by the Somali radio, said in a statement: ''I can confirm that the United States is airlifting military equipment to Somalia. This is in connection with the recent incursion by Ethiopians and Ethiopian-supported forces.''
July 25, 1982
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Somalis Report Battle With Ethiopian Soldiers
UPI
Somali Government troops killed or wounded 500 Ethiopian soldiers in a battle for a village in the Ogaden border region on Tuesday, a Defense Ministry communique said today.August 12, 1982
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Somalis Report Vast U.S. Airlift

UPI
United States military transport planes have begun an airlift of $5.5 million in emergency weapons and supplies to Somalia to aid in its war against Ethiopia, the Mogadishu radio in Somalia said today. The radio broadcast, monitored here, said the American planes were involved in ''a continous airlift'' of arms needed by Somalia to defend its borders against an Ethiopian invasion.August 27, 1982 ***********************************************************************
Eritrean Says Rebels Await Ethiopian Buildup

An Eritrean rebel leader says that Ethiopian troops in the troubled province are incapable of starting a new offensive and are playing for time until they can build up their forces there. Amdemicael Kahsai, a member of the central committee of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front, said in an interview that since the failure of an Ethiopian offensive against the rebels in May, ''military operations for Ethiopia have been taken over by the Soviets.'' He said there were now about 800 Soviet advisers in Eritrea. The Eritrean rebels have been fighting for the independence of their province since the territory was annexed by the Government of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1962. The Eritrean People's Liberation Front maintains a permanent office in New York as the Eritrean Relief Committee. September 6, 1982
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THIS WAS 24 YEARS AGO. The time when Siad Barre and Mengistu were head of the states; Siad Barre supported by the Americans, Mengistu by the Soviet Union. 24 years ago the MLLT (TPLF) was a guerilla fighter campaigning for free and independent Tigray; at the same time the Eritrean rebels (EPLF and ELF) were paying with blood for the independence of Eritrea. Some people don't learn from history. Liberation fronts like TPLF changed their goal and metamorphosized in to a colonizing force and they are commiting brutality against the Oromos and other south Ethiopian nations. 24 years ago, their struggle was to get rid of massive human rights violations against the tigrean people. The campaign was for a free and independent Tigray. What do the ex-TPLF guerilla fighters say about their organisation today? The Eritrean nation is free. But do the eritreans enjoy the freedom they were fighting for? 24 years ago the Americans were doing all what they can to save Siad Barre just because they were against the so-called socialist regime of Addis. And today? The somalis have no government. People are fighting against each other for more than 15 years. Some somali groups are doing their best to build a stable somali government. But thanks to the TPLF-led EPRDF regime in Addis is intervening in the internal matters of Somalia. In the name of the "war on terror" the TPLF regime enjoys western Aid. The regime is terrorizing the citizens in ethiopian empire. When will the international community opens its eyes and says "NO TO HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION, NO TO COLONIALISM, NO DEMOCRACY NO SUPPORT"?
OromiaTimes