Ogaden

Coordinates: 7°17′N 44°18′E / 7.28°N 44.30°E / 7.28; 44.30
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the geographical area. For the Somali clan, see Ogaden (clan).
Ogaden
Ogaadeen
ውጋዴ/ውጋዴን
Map of the Ogaden region with Somali-inhabited land shaded in red
Map of the Ogaden region with Somali-inhabited land shaded in red
Region (non-administrative)Ogaden
Area
 • Total327,068 km2 (126,282 sq mi)
ISO 3166 codeET-SO

Ogaden (pronounced and often spelled Ogadēn;

Amharic: ውጋዴ/ውጋዴን) is one of the historical names used for the modern Somali Region which forms the eastern portion of Ethiopia and borders Somalia. Other names sometimes used for this area are Haud or Hawd.[1]

The region is an arid area, and encompasses the desolate plain between the border of Somalia and Ethiopia, extending towards the eastern Ethiopian Highlands where larger cities like Harar and Dire Dawa are located. The primary river in the region is the Shebelle, which is fed by temporary seasonal streams. Towards the southwestern edge of the Ogaden is the source of the Ganale Doria river which joins Dawa river to become the major Jubba) river on the Somali border.

The region has a low population density and is predominantly inhabited by Somali people. The Ogaden is known for its oil and gas reserves,[2] although development efforts have been hindered by the instability prevailing in the area.

Etymology

The origin of the term Ogaden is unknown, however it is usually attributed to the Somali clan of the same name, originally referring only to their land, and eventually expanding to encompass most parts of the modern Somali Region of eastern Ethiopia.[3][4][5]

During the new region's founding conference, which was held in

ONLF sought to name the region ‘Ogadenia’, whilst the non-Ogadeni Somali clans who live in the same region opposed this move. As noted by Abdul Majid Hussein, the naming of the region where there are several Somali clans as ‘Ogadenia’ following the name of a single clan would have been divisive. Finally, the region was named the Somali region.[6][7]

An alternative (possibly folk) etymology analyses the name as a combination of the Harari word ūga ("road")[8] and Aden, a city in Yemen, supposedly deriving from an ancient caravan route through the region connecting Harar to the Arabian Peninsula.[9]

People

The inhabitants are predominantly ethnic Somalis, of almost 30 clans. The Ogaden clan of the Darod constitute the majority in the region,[10][11] and were enlisted in the Ogaden National Liberation Movement, That is why the region is associated with the Ogaden clan. However, this is disputed.[12] Other Somali clans in the region are Sheekhaal, Marehan, Isaaq, Geri Koombe Gadabuursi, Issa, Massare, Gabooye, Degodia and Jidle and Karanle clans of the Hawiye.[13]

Somali-inhabited region within Ethiopia shown as part of Greater Somali territory

History

There are few historical texts written about the people who lived in what is known today as the

Ifat Sultanate in the 13th and beginning of the 14th centuries AD. The borders of the sultanate extended from the northern seaboard of Somalia to the interiors of Ethiopia. The Ifat Sultanate was succeeded by the Adal Sultanate. There was an ongoing conflict between the Adal Sultanate and the Ethiopian Empire throughout this time. During the first half of the 16th century, most of Abyssinia was conquered and came under the rule of Adal when Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi, the Imam of Adal, took control.[22]

1800s

1873 cartography by John Bartholomew designating “Ugaden” east of Harar

In the seventeenth century it became a tributary state of the

President of the International Court of Justice, Abdulqawi Yusuf, has argued citing the Island of Palmas Case that since the British government had no title to the land which it had ceded during the treaty that such cession was null and void.[29] A similar interpretation was put forward in parliament by British MP Fred Willey in 1955 in regards to the legality of the treaty

At any rate there was a case that the 1897 Treaty did not succeed in doing what it purported to do and that it was not within the power of the British Government to transfer these territories.[31]

1900s

Mohammed Abdullah Hassan in Ethiopia
, legend from the early 1900s

In 1914,

Wal Wal incident in 1935.[34] Ethiopia exerted little presence east of Jijiga until 1934 when an Anglo-Ethiopian boundary commission attempted to demarcate the treaty boundary. This boundary is still disputed.[35]

After the Italian

Eritrea in 1945, but their persistent negotiations[37][38] and pressure from the United States
eventually persuaded the British to cede Ogaden to Ethiopia in 1948. The last remaining British controlled parts of Haud were returned to Ethiopia in 1955.

Post-Somali Independence

Main articles:
1963 Ogaden Rebellion, Western Somali Liberation Front, and Ogaden War

During the

1963 Ogaden Revolt the first major armed resistance by Somalis to Ethiopian rule began in the region after imperial authorities had attempted to tax the population. The revolt and brutal counterinsurgency campaign that followed would result in the deterioration of Ethio–Somali relations and lead to the first war between the two nations during 1964
.

Western Somali Liberation Front (WSLF) fighters in the Ogaden

In the late 1970s, internal unrest in the 'Ogaden' resumed. The Western Somali Liberation Front used guerilla tactics to resist Ethiopian rule. Ethiopia and Somalia fought the Ogaden War over control of this region and its peoples.

1980s to 1990s

Main articles: Ogaden National Liberation Front and Insurgency in Ogaden

During the new region's founding conference, which was held in Dire Dawa in 1992, the naming of the region became a divisive issue, because almost 30 Somali clans live in the Somali Region of Ethiopia. The ONLF sought to name the region ‘Ogadenia’, whilst the non-Ogadeni Somali clans who live in the same region opposed this move. As noted by Abdul Majid Hussein, the naming of the region where there are several Somali clans as ‘Ogadenia’ following the name of a single clan would have been divisive. Finally, the region was named the Somali region.[39][40]

2000s

Main article: 2007–2008 Ethiopian crackdown in Ogaden
Street scene in Jijiga, Somali Region

In 2007, the

War on Terror in the Horn of Africa.[45][46]
[47]

Geography

The

Shilabo, Kelafo, Werder and Danan
.

Ecology

The Ogaden is part of the Somali Acacia–Commiphora bushlands and thickets ecoregion. It has been a historic habitat for the endangered African wild dog, Lycaon pictus;[49] However, this canid is thought by some to have been extirpated from Ogaden.

The Ogaden is a

semi-arid; receiving as much as 500–600 mm of rainfall annually. More typical of the Ogaden is an average annual rainfall of 350 mm and less. The landscape consists of dense shrubland, bush grassland and bare hills.[50] In more recent years, the Ogaden has suffered from increasingly erratic rainfall patterns, which has led to an increasing frequency of major droughts: in 1984–85; 1994; and most recently in 1999–2000, during which pastoralists claim to have lost 70–90 percent of their cattle.[51]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "Hawd Plateau | plateau, East Africa". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
  2. ^ "Ethiopia Country Analysis Brief". Energy Information Administration. Archived from the original on 2007-12-24. Retrieved 2024-01-29.
  3. ISBN 978-1-84904-261-1
    .
  4. ISBN 978-94-017-8026-1
    .
  5. ^ "Ogaden, The". rpl.hds.harvard.edu.
  6. ^ Adegehe, Asnake Kefale (2009). Federalism and ethnic conflict in Ethiopia : a comparative study of the Somali and Benishangul-Gumuz regions (PDF) (Thesis). Leiden University. p. 135.
  7. ISBN 9789401780261
    .
  8. doi:10.3406/ethio.1959.1310
    . Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  9. JSTOR 41966038
    .
  10. ISBN 9780814210130
    .
  11. ISBN 9780812247329
    .
  12. ISBN 9781847010339
    .
  13. ISBN 9781569020159
    .
  14. ISBN 978-1-86064-744-4
    .
  15. ISBN 978-1-84701-033-9
    .
  16. ^ Chekroun, Amelie. The Harla: archeology and memory of the giants of Ethiopia. French Center for Ethiopian Studies.
  17. ISBN 9789966833129
    .
  18. ISBN 9783825856717
    .
  19. ISBN 978-9004184787
    .
  20. ISBN 978-90-04-11909-3
    .
  21. ISBN 978-90-04-11909-3
    .
  22. ^ A History of the Ogaden (Western Somali) Struggle for Self-Determination, first edition (London: Mohamed Abdi, 2007), pp. 4–12.
  23. ^ Ethiopia: land of slavery & brutality (PDF). League of Nations. 1935. p. 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-10-06. Retrieved 2019-03-06.
  24. ^ FitzGibbon 1985, p. 26-27.
  25. ^ FitzGibbon 1985, p. 29.
  26. ^ Lewis, I.M. (1962). The Somali Peninsula: A New Light on Imperial Motives. Mogadishu: Information Services of the Somali Government. pp. 36–40.
  27. ^ Pearce, Francis Barrow (1898). Rambles in Lion Land: Three Months' Leave Passed in Somaliland. London. pp. 176–177.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  28. ^ H. G. C. Swayne, "A Trip to Harar and Imé", Geographical Journal, 2 (September 1893), p. 251
  29. ^ a b Ahmed Yusuf, Abdulqawi (1980). "The Anglo-Ethiopian Treaty of 1897 and the Somali-Ethiopian Dispute". Horn of Africa. 3 (1): 39.
  30. ^ I.M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali, fourth edition (Oxford: James Currey, 2002), p. 59
  31. ^ Willey, Frederick. "British Somaliland (Anglo-Ethiopian Agreement) Volume 537: debated on Friday 25 February 1955". www.parliament.uk.
  32. ISBN 9781108429160
    .
  33. ISSN 2151-4372
    .
  34. ^ Drysdale 1964, p. 56.
  35. ^ Lewis, Modern History, p. 61
  36. ^ Bahru Zewde, History p. 180.
  37. ^ "Ethiopia offers Britain land in exchange for Zeila port of Somaliland – 1946 • Ethiopian Review". Ethiopianreview.com. 2012-02-10. Retrieved 2012-09-10.
  38. ISBN 9780198229605
    . Retrieved 2012-09-10 – via Google Books.
  39. ^ Adegehe, Asnake Kefale (2009). Federalism and ethnic conflict in Ethiopia : a comparative study of the Somali and Benishangul-Gumuz regions (PDF) (Thesis). Leiden University. p. 135.
  40. ISBN 9789401780261
    .
  41. ^ Ethiopian Rebels Kill 70 at Chinese-Run Oil Field
  42. ^ Ogaden Human Rights Committee (2006-02-20). "Mass Killings in the Ogaden: Daily Atrocities Against Civilians by the Ethiopian Armed Forces" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-09-27.
  43. ^ "US Committee on Foreign Affairs on Ethiopia". Foreignaffairs.house.gov. 2007-10-02. Archived from the original on 2012-11-27. Retrieved 2012-09-10.
  44. ^ Peter Takirambudde (2007-07-04). "Ethiopia: Crackdown in East Punishes Civilians (Human Rights Watch, 4-7-2007)". Hrw.org. Retrieved 2012-09-10.
  45. ^ "Ethiopia Ogaden rebels blast report on killing civilians". Sudantribune.com. Archived from the original on 2015-09-09. Retrieved 2012-09-10.
  46. ^ ONLF rebels accused of killing civilians in southern Ethiopia Archived 2010-08-11 at the Wayback Machine
  47. ^ Connors, Will (2007-09-05). "Why We Don't Hear About the Conflict in the Ogaden: When an American reporter started digging, he was forced out of Ethiopia". Slate.
  48. ^ Tareke, Gebru (2000). "The Ethiopia-Somalia War of 1977 Revisited". The International Journal of African Historical Studies: 636.
  49. ^ C. Michael Hogan. 2009. Painted Hunting Dog: Lycaon pictus, GlobalTwitcher.com, ed. N. Stromberg Archived December 9, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  50. ^ Ayele Gebre-Mariam, The Critical Issue of Land Ownership, Working Paper No. 2 (Bern: NCCR North-South, 2005), p. 12 (accessed 19 January 2009)
  51. ^ CHF International, Grassroots Conflict Assessment in the Somali Region Archived July 26, 2011, at the Wayback Machine (Aug. 2006), p. 12 (accessed 12 December 2008)

Bibliography

External links

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7°17′N 44°18′E / 7.28°N 44.30°E / 7.28; 44.30

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