May 19, 1978

SECTION: OTHER NATIONS; Ethiopia

PAGE: Pg. 372 B3

HEADLINE:  Mengistu Threatens Somali Invasion

BODY:
   Ethiopian leader Lt. Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam warned Somalia May 12 that Ethiopia would go to war unless Somalia
ceased its support for guerrillas in Ethiopia's southern Ogaden region.  [See p. 178D2]

In a speech at Jijiga, one of the Ogaden strongholds occupied by the Somalibacked guerrillas during the eight-month war,
Mengistu said Somalia was being warned "for the last time."  He added that the fighting in the area was not yet over, and "at this very hour some Ethipians are dying and trucks are burning from mines laid by Somali forces."

Regular Somali troops had withdrawn from Ogaden, but fighting by secessionist guerrillas of Somali ethnic stock had continued.  The Western Somali Liberation Front (WSLF), which was fighting to unite Ogaden with Somalia, reported April 15 that it had killed more than 1,000 Ethiopian and Cuban soldiers since April 11.  Although the WSLF figure was believed to be exaggerated, it was an indication that heavy fighting was continuing.

Throughout April and into May, the WSLF reported engagements in which Ethiopian and Cuban troops were killed. In addition, the rebels claimed April 24 that a high-ranking provincial administrator in Ogaden had defeated to the Somali cause.
Somalia March 31 charged that Ethiopian aircraft had attacked two border villages near the northern city of Hargeisa in
retaliation for the guerrilla action in Ogaden.
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