Overview

Geo-political significance of the Horn

Superpower involvement in the region

Soviet-Cuban military intervention, 1977-78

Factor shaping the Soviet realignment

Overview

In the space of three years (1977-80), the two rival superpowers exchanged allies in the Horn of Africa. In April 1977, Ethiopia, an old American ally, severed its military ties with Washington and established an alliance with the USSR. In November 1977, Somalia, angered by Soviet support from Mogadishu’s adversry, Ethiopia, ended its military alliance with Moscow. The superpower flip-flop was completed in August 1980 with the signing of the US-Somali military co-operation agreement.

Geo-political Significance of the Horn

The Horn of Africa in the 1970s comprised three countries – Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti. It was a target for external interest. The region flanks the oil states of Arabia, dominates part of the Gulf of Aden through which oil tankers pass, and overlooks the passages where the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean converge.

Superpower involvement in the Horn

In 1953, the US obtained a 25 year lease on the Kagnew Communications facility in Asmara in return for American diplomatic support in the UN for Ethiopian trusteeship over Eritrea. Ethiopia was regarded in Washington as the principal buffer against the spread of communism in black Africa. The USSR only established a foothold in the region in 1963 when it became the major arms supplier to Somalia. That relationship deepened after a military coup in Somalia in October 1969. The event, however, that transformed superpower involvement in the Horn was the Ethiopian revolution of 1974.

Soviet-Cuban Military Intervention in the Horn

On 26 November 1977, the Soviets launched a huge six-week air-and sea-lift to Ethiopia. Altogether, the USSR ferried in over $1 billion worth of armaments, about 15,000 Cuban combat troops, 1,500 Soviet military advisers and General V.I. Petrov, First Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Grand Forces, to direct the war. After the initiation of the Ethiopian-Cuban counter-offensive in January 1978, the Somali forces were driven back. By March 1978, they had been forced right out of the Ogaden.

Factors prompting Soviet realignment

1. Regionally, the Kremlin believed Ethiopia was the most importance state in the Horn of Africa.
2. Strategically, the Brezhnev leadership considered Ethiopia to be the greater prize by virtue of its access to the Red Sea.
3. Ideologically, Soviet diplomats applauded what they called the ‘genuine’ nature of the Ethiopian revolution.
4. Institutionally, the position of some pro-Somali figures in the Soviet leadership were crucially weakened in the Spring and Summer of 1977.