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In 1977 Somalia invaded Ethiopia in an attempt to take control of disputed territory where most of the inhabitants were ethnic Somalis. The ensuing war would become one of the defining events in recent East African history. Hear from General Mohamed Nur Galal, one of the architects of the Somali invasion.
Several specialists and analysts support the idea that the troubles Somalia has faced over the past 20 years are due to the Ogaden War, which was undertaken by the late president Siyad Barre. Do you believe that the two events, the Ogaden War and the Somali Civil War, are interconnected?
Dr. Zakaria Mohamud Haji Abdi - There is no doubt that there is strong relationship between the two events, but the question that arises is: was it right or wrong to try to liberate Ogaden region by the Somali government? The act of liberating people from the yoke of an illegal and brutal occupation is by itself a noble one all along the history of mankind. Yet, the 1977 war was an effect of a much deeper rooted, malignant cause. So, the real blame lay on the shoulders of the occupiers and their accomplices, who are in this case the British colonialists.
It is England that deliberately and maliciously annexed this purely Somali region to Ethiopia, a country that happened to be not only a systematic collaborator of the European imperial powers but also their natural ally, being actually a co-imperialist in the notorious Africa scramble Berlin conference of 1884-5.
In the same token, the blame goes also to the 20th century Western and Eastern blocks, led by both super powers, the United States and Soviet Union, which for the first time had common interest and shared same objective, by siding with the Ethiopian occupation and by starkly using their military might to defeat the winning Somali Army and to support and save the defeated Ethiopian army.
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