The Somali-Ethiopian border: an unresolved historical dispute

Ethiopia’s border dispute with Somalia’s south is complex but has its roots in a failure by Rome to demarcate it with Addis Ababa during the colonial era.

The border disputes between Somalia and Ethiopia have sparked numerous conflicts and armed struggles since the era of western colonialism in the Horn of Africa, beginning with the Italian-Ethiopian wars. After independence, these disputes manifested in skirmishes in 1964 and the Ogaden War in 1977. Up to the present, there is a risk of reviving these conflicts, especially with the controversy over the Memorandum of Understanding signed between Somaliland and Ethiopia, which Somalia views as a violation of its sovereignty.

These disputes are rooted in nostalgic and inaccurate readings of history by both parties. Ethiopians believe they have a rightful claim to much of Somali territory, viewing it as land taken from them by European colonisers. On the other hand, Somalis believe that the colonisers divided their historical lands and granted part of them to Ethiopia, specifically the Ogaden region, known to Somalis as the western Somali region.

Roots of the crisis

The issue of demarcating borders between Italian Somaliland and Ethiopia took a rocky path due to the tension and conflict characterising relations between the Italian coloniser and Ethiopia. Italy sought to extend its influence over Ethiopia through treaties, such as the Treaty of Wuchale in 1888, which had two contradictory interpretations: one Italian interpretation that viewed it as a comprehensive mandate from Ethiopia to manage its international relations. Italian prime minister Giovanni Giolitti thought he agreed that an “external protectorate would be maintained over Menelik” and brandished the document across Europe with glee.

The other was the Ethiopian interpretation in Amharic that saw the management of Ethiopia’s foreign relations through Rome as optional. “I have discovered something humiliating for my kingdom,” Menelik wrote to his counterpart, King Umberto, in Italy, before he cut ties. Similarly, subsequent agreements and treaties between the two sides also had dual interpretations, which was the main reason for the failure of all attempts to demarcate the borders between Italian Somaliland and Ethiopia.

After Italy’s defeat at the Battle of Adwa and the failure of its invasion of Ethiopia, the Treaty of Addis Ababa was signed which ended the first Italo-Ethiopian war in 1896, including provisions for negotiations between the two parties to demarcate the borders between Italy’s colonies in Somalia and Ethiopia. In March 1897, the Italian government sent Major Cesare Nerazzini to Addis Ababa to discuss the border issue. This meeting was of great importance to the Ethiopian narrative regarding its claim to a large area of the

Somali Federal Republic’s territory. According to Ethiopian accounts, Emperor Menelik II had drawn a line on the map indicating the acceptable borders for Ethiopia.

The narrative adds that the emperor handed the only copy to Nerazzini to take to the Italian government. On September 3, 1879, Italy sent a telegram to Ethiopia, informing it of its acceptance of the proposed line. However, official texts on border demarcation were never exchanged, and disputes between the two sides resumed.

The alleged line drawn by Emperor Menelik II runs from latitude 8°N and longitude 48°E, while the borders claimed by Italy extend to a tripoint with British Somaliland inland at latitude 8°N and longitude 47°E. According to estimates, Ethiopia claims an area of 47,000 square kilometers of Somali territory, which is twice the size of Djibouti, based on the temporary borders between the two countries.

(An unofficial map sourced from the study by Ethiopian researcher Mesfin Meriam, illustrating the disputes over the border line)

Unsuccessful negotiations

A study published by the Office of the Geographer of the US department of state reviewed the border disputes between the two countries and commented on Menelik II’s alleged line: “It quickly became apparent that Ethiopia and Italy used different references in defining the borders, and a large triangular area extending northeast was under question regarding its sovereignty.”

When Britain delineated the borders of its colonies in Kenya with Ethiopia in 1907, it granted Italy's colonies in Somalia an extension to the Dolo area. This was followed in 1908 by a new agreement between Ethiopia and Italy to demarcate the borders starting from Dolo. However, this agreement, which was neither legally nor geographically precise, became controversial as it relied on tribal locations rather than lines of latitude and longitude. According to the Anglo-Italian agreement, the borders of Somalia extended across the Juba River to the Kenya-Ethiopia border point at Dolo.

During the Italian-Ethiopian War (1935-1936), Italy annexed the Ogaden region and the upper reaches of the Juba and Shabelle river basins to the Italian colony of Somalia. With the outbreak of World War II (1939-1945), Italy controlled Somaliland (British Somaliland). Britain, however, defeated Italy in 1941, regained its colonies in Somaliland, and took control of Italy’s colonies in southern Somalia, Ogaden, and parts of Ethiopia. It was the first time in Somali history that four out of the five desired Somali territories were controlled under one regime.

The British withdrew from most of Ogaden in 1948. The Anglo-Ethiopian Protocol of 1948 established temporary borders “without prejudice to the international borders between Ethiopia and former Italian Somaliland.” The United Kingdom made a slight unilateral adjustment to these temporary borders in 1948 before withdrawing from Italian Somaliland in 1950. At that time, the area came under United Nations trusteeship, with Italy overseeing it. Both Ethiopia and Italy expressed reservations about the alignment of the temporary administrative line before its implementation. On 29 November 1954, an Anglo-Ethiopian agreement stipulated the withdrawal of British authority from Hud but confirmed the right of British-protected Somalis (from Somaliland) to graze and water their livestock in the area.

The border issue then returned to Italy as the trustee of Somalia from 1950 to 1960. During this period, Italy engaged in negotiations with Ethiopia to resolve the border dispute, but these efforts ended in failure in 1957. The Italian government rejected an Ethiopian proposal concerning the temporary administrative line. United Nations-mediated negotiations, facilitated by the King of Norway, also failed in 1958 to resolve the disputes. In December 1959, Italian and Ethiopian representatives agreed that the temporary administrative line between Somalia and Ethiopia would remain in effect until a final settlement was reached.

Post-independence

A document prepared by the CIA in 1948, which was made public in 1999, addressed the border disputes between Italian Somaliland and Ethiopia as previously described. It noted that the Ethiopian claim that Italy accepted the line drawn by Emperor Menelik had no legal basis, as the acceptance was not formalised in exchanged documents and consisted only of Italian statements with a different interpretation from what the Ethiopians believed. This issue was like the one that arose in the 1908 agreement between the two parties.

Somalia gained independence on 1 July 1960 and refused to recognise the Anglo-Ethiopian borders drawn in 1897. It acknowledged only the temporary border line with Ethiopia. Consequently, the border issue remained unresolved between the two parties but took a new direction with the emergence of the Greater Somalia aspiration, which aimed to annex the western Somali region within Ethiopia.

Somalia opposed the 1964 Cairo Declaration issued by the Organization of African Unity (later the African Union), which stipulated the maintenance of colonial borders. Although there were limited clashes between Somalia and Ethiopia, these were contained through OAU mediation, which, however, failed to resolve the underlying dispute between 1970 and 1971.

The Somalis eventually decided to arm themselves and take matters into their own hands. The question of unifying the territories wasn’t just one of territorial conquest for successive Somali governments but was a defining policy which impacted their perceived legitimacy. From Aden Abdulle Osman, to Abdirashid Shermarke and then Siad Barre, taking control of the Ogaden region was a foreign policy pillar. As the New York Times put it, “to the proud, nomadic, desert‐loving Somalis, it is promised land.”

The socialist government in Somalia resorted to military force to resolve the border issue by invading the Ogaden region in 1977. However, Somalia's defeat and subsequent withdrawal ended this attempt, leaving the border issue unresolved. Following this, Somalia experienced internal conflicts, and Ethiopia and Somalia agreed to cease supporting armed opposition in each other’s countries. The border issue remains unresolved, with no officially delineated borders. This contrasts interestingly with the Ethiopian frontier with Somaliland over which there are no issues.