http://insightsomalia.net/2018/11/19/somalia-and-the-saudi-battleship-that-saw-siad-barres-demise/
Apparently the Soviets and Fidel Castro met with Barre and Mengistu before the 77 war to calm tensions between the two nations. The Saudi's convinced Barre to attack Ethiopia by promising war support. Below are quotes from the Saudi foreign minister after the 77 war ended.
“I am tired of Somalia,” Al Mansouri told Henze, according to the secret memo. “We have wasted a lot of time and money on it and we have nothing to show for it. We do not care about the Ogaden. We are only interested in communism in this region. We want the Soviets and Cubans out of the region.”
“We did not care who had the Ogaden; we only wanted Mengistu defeated. If the Russians and Cubans had not come in to help him, he would have been defeated.”
“We will do anything you can convince us makes sense to get communism out of Ethiopia.” Then, in reference to his country’s funding of separatist Eritrean rebels, Al Mansouri says, “When Ethiopia is moderate, there will be no difficulty with the Eritreans. We will give them no support. We do not care about Somalia.”
Apparently the Soviets and Fidel Castro met with Barre and Mengistu before the 77 war to calm tensions between the two nations. The Saudi's convinced Barre to attack Ethiopia by promising war support. Below are quotes from the Saudi foreign minister after the 77 war ended.
“I am tired of Somalia,” Al Mansouri told Henze, according to the secret memo. “We have wasted a lot of time and money on it and we have nothing to show for it. We do not care about the Ogaden. We are only interested in communism in this region. We want the Soviets and Cubans out of the region.”
“We did not care who had the Ogaden; we only wanted Mengistu defeated. If the Russians and Cubans had not come in to help him, he would have been defeated.”
“We will do anything you can convince us makes sense to get communism out of Ethiopia.” Then, in reference to his country’s funding of separatist Eritrean rebels, Al Mansouri says, “When Ethiopia is moderate, there will be no difficulty with the Eritreans. We will give them no support. We do not care about Somalia.”
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