|
Ethiopia’s invasion of
Somalia in 2006: Motives and lessons learned
Napoleon A. Bamfo
Department
of Political Science, Valdosta State University, Valdosta,
Ga 31698, U. S. A.
E-mail:
nap_bam@yahoo.com,
nbamfo@valdosta.edu.
Tel: (229) 333-5771, (229) 244-8034.
Accepted
21 December, 2009 |
|
Ethiopia’s
invasion of Somalia in late 2006 may go down in history as
one of the most daring if not imprudent strategic decision
any African government has made on its neighbour. Ethiopia’s
actions to invade Somalia gets more perplexing, considering
it seemed unprovoked and should have been more
circumspective given Ethiopia’s own history as a victim of
unprovoked invasion by Italy and its myriad internal
economic challenges. Even if Ethiopia's goal of going into
Somalia had been purely humanitarian, the nearly two decades
of instability there and the history of irredentism and
distrust between the two countries should have given
Ethiopia pause to be prudent. Although not without
precedent, it is still unusual for one African country to
invade another country on the scale Ethiopia did and fight a
war that was guaranteed to be bloody. Self-defense, which
Ethiopia claims as reason for its military action, raises
doubt and compels an examination of the real motives for its
actions in Somalia. This study explores what these motives
could have been. Using historical evidence and those from
contemporary sources, the study catalogs the violence that
followed the invasion and how Ethiopia’s action aggravated
Somalia’s endemic social and political ills. Ethiopia’s
actions in Somalia could not have accomplished their
objectives given the fact Somalia has plunged deeper into
anarchy since the invading troops left its soil. It has also
been costly both to the invader and the invaded. Other
African countries can learn an invaluable lesson from
Ethiopia’s experience not to start an audacious incursion
into foreign territory without an unimpeachable reason.
Key
words:
Ogaden war, the Derg, Islamists, refugees, Horn of Africa,
piracy, pan-Somalism. |
