The Battle of Jijiga was a series of battles that was part of the

Ogaden War The Ogaden War, also known as the Ethio-Somali War (, ), was a military conflict between Somali Democratic Republic, Somalia and derg, Ethiopia fought from July 1977 to March 1978 over control of the sovereignty of the Ogaden region. Somalia ...

. The battles were fought in

Jijiga Jijiga (, , ''Jijiga'') is the capital city of Somali Region, Ethiopia. It became the capital of the Somali Region in 1995 after it was moved from Gode. Located in the Fafan Zone with 75 km (37 mi) west of the border with Som ...

, Ethiopia and was one the largest battles of the conflict.

History

First Battle of Jijiga (September 1977)

In mid-September 1977, during the Somali invasion of the Ethiopian Somali region, Somalia National Army forces attacked the Ethiopian held garrison in Jijiga. By September more than 90% of Somali Region was in SNA control and on September 12 the Somalia forces captured Jijiga, a strategic success. Jijiga overlooked the nearby Marda Pass where Ethiopian troops were entrenched, halting any further Somali advance deeper. Local defenders at Jijiga garrison consisted of roughly 25,000 Ethiopian infantrymen. The SNA attack on Jijiga came the same day Dire Dawa came under siege. The Ethiopian army had begun to receive Soviet aid by the time of the battle, however morale was low and when a British journalist visited the battlefield afterwards, he claimed that large quantities of weapons had been abandoned by fleeing Ethiopian forces. 124 Somali tanks, mostly

T-55 The T-54 and T-55 tanks are a series of Soviet medium tanks introduced in the years following the Second World War. The first T-54 prototype was completed at Nizhny Tagil by the end of 1945.Steven Zaloga, T-54 and T-55 Main Battle Tanks 1944–2 ...

s, defeated 108 Ethiopian tanks, mainly

M47 Patton The M47 Patton was an American medium tank, a development of the M46 Patton mounting an updated turret, and was in turn further developed as the M48 Patton. It was the second American tank to be named after General George S. Patton, commande ...

s and

M41 Walker Bulldog The M41 Walker Bulldog, officially 76-mm gun tank M41, was an American light tank developed for armed reconnaissance purposes. It was produced by Cadillac between 1951 and 1954 and marketed successfully to the United States Army as a replaceme ...

s. The Ethiopians lost 43 tanks during the battle, including 11 T-34/85 and 32 US made tanks as well as 28

Armoured personnel carrier An armoured personnel carrier (APC) is a broad type of armoured military vehicle designed to transport personnel and equipment in combat zones. Since World War I, APCs have become a very common piece of military equipment around the world. Acc ...

s. Parts of the battle, including the massacre of both Jijiga's Somali population by the Ethiopian Army and the Somali army's shelling and sniping of refugees attempting to flee the city, are described by

Nega Mezlekia Nega Mezlekia (Amharic: ነጋ መዝለቂያ; born 1958) is an Ethiopian writer who writes in English. His first language is the Amharic language, but since the 1980s he has lived in Canada so speaks and writes in English. Nega was born in Jijig ...

in his autobiographical book, ''Notes from the Hyena's Belly.''Nega Mezlekia, ''Notes from the Hyena's Belly'', 2000, Picador USA

Second Battle of Jijiga (March 1978)

After the Somali advance on

Harar Harar (; Harari language, Harari: ሀረር / ; ; ; ), known historically by the indigenous as Harar-Gey or simply Gey (Harari: ጌይ, ݘٛىيْ, ''Gēy'', ), is a List of cities with defensive walls, walled city in eastern Ethiopia. It is al ...

had been turned back at the Battle of Harar, the Ethiopian forces launched a

counter-attack A counterattack is a tactic employed in response to an attack, with the term originating in " war games". The general objective is to negate or thwart the advantage gained by the enemy during attack, while the specific objectives typically seek ...

against the Somali Army (starting on January 22, 1978) with the help of Cuban forces. The Ethiopian forces outflanked the Somali forces and inflicted major losses on them. On March 5, 1978 the Ethiopians recaptured Jijiga and on March 9, 1978, Somalia's President,

Siad Barre Mohammed Siad Barre (, Osmanya script: , ''Muhammad Ziād Barīy''; 6 October 1919 – 2 January 1995) was a Somali military officer, politician, and revolutionary who served as the third president of Somalia from 21 October 1969 to 26 Janu ...

announced that all Somali forces would leave the Somali Region of Ethiopia, ending the war.

References

1977 in Ethiopia 1978 in Ethiopia Battles in 1977 Battles in 1978 Massacres committed by Ethiopia History of Jijiga Massacres in 1978 20th-century mass murder in Ethiopia Massacres of the Ethiopian Civil War Massacres of Somalis {{battle-stub