The Role of Ethiopian Workers Militia in the Ethio-Somalia War (1977-78)

Abstract

The Somali irredentist aimed at establishing Greater Somalia by conquering the Somali speaking areas in Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti. In doing so, Somali invaded Ethiopia in 1964 and 1977/78 respectively. During the two invasions, the Ethiopian workers led by the Confederation of Ethiopian Labour Unions (CELU) and the All Ethiopian Trade Unions (AETU) defended the sovereignty of their country. More importantly, in the second Ethio-Somalia war, a number of workers militia were organized under two workers militia Brigades and three mixed Brigades defended their country. This paper therefore attempts to reconstruct the role of the Ethiopian workers in defending the sovereignty of Ethiopia in the two Ethio-Somalia wars. Since this is a qualitative study, data for the study was collected through document analysis and in-depth interviews. The collected data were analyzed thematically. The findings show that the Ethiopian workers participated in the second Ethio-Somalia war not only as drivers and technicians of military convoys but also as militia combatants and defended their motherland from irredentists.

Keywords: Militia, Brigade, Irredentism, Workers, Internationalism

DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/12-22-02

Publication date: November 30^th 2022