Conflicts in the Horn of Africa

The Horn of Africa.

The conflicts in the Horn of Africa have continuously ravaged that region recently.

History

The Horn of Africa is a region continuously in crisis. Ethiopia occupies a predominant position in the Horn because of its demographic importance: about 85% of the area's population live in this country. Yet Ethiopia's history is largely marked by conflicts between ethnic groups for resources and living space, as well as between nationalism and Marxism-Leninism in the modern times. The rest of the region also faces continuous wars: a civil war erupted in Somalia in 1986, resulting in the country having had no functioning national government since 1991.

Colonial conflicts

• First Italo-Ethiopian War between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ethiopian Empire, 1895-1896
• Dervish resistance against the United Kingdom, the Kingdom of Italy, the Ethiopian Empire, and other Somalis, 1899-1920
• Second Italo-Ethiopian War between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ethiopian Empire, 1935-1936

World War I

• East African Campaign (World War I) between the German Empire and the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth of Nations, the Portuguese Empire, and the Kingdom of Belgium, 1914-1918

World War II

• East African Campaign (World War II) between the Kingdom of Italy and the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth of Nations, the Kingdom of Belgium, and the Ethiopian Empire, 1940-1941

Recent conflicts

• Eritrean War of Independence 1961 - 1991, between Eritrean liberation fronts (primarily the EPLF and early on also the ELF) and the Ethiopian Empire (1961-1974) and Marxist Derg-ruled Ethiopia (1974-1991)
• Shifta War 1963-1967, separatist insurgency by ethnic Somalis in Kenya
• Ethiopian Civil War 1974-1991, between the Derg (ruling government of Ethiopia) and various rebel groups, as well as amongst the rebel groups, including the Marxist Ethiopian EPRP, MEISON, and TPLF, the Eritrean EPLF, ELF, the monarchist EDU (in the first stage of the war), and the Somali WSLF; included Red Terror
• Ogaden War 1977 - 1978 between Ethiopia and Somalia
• 1982 Ethiopian-Somali Border War
• Djiboutian Civil War 1991 - 1994
• Ethiopian-Eritrean War 1998 - 2000, between Eritrea and Ethiopia
• Somali Civil War 1986 - present
  • Operation Restore Hope - 1992 - 1993, UN intervention
  • War in Somalia - 2006 - 2009, Ethiopian intervention
• Insurgency in Ogaden
  • • 2007 Ogaden conflict between Ethiopia and the ONLF
• Operation Enduring Freedom - Horn of Africa October 2002-present,between NATO and al-Qaeda

See also

• Political history of Eastern Africa (for ancient, medieval, and early modern conflicts)
• History of Djibouti
• History of Eritrea
• History of Ethiopia
• History of Somalia