Al-Ittihad attacks in Addis Ababa triggered Ethiopian retaliation and a Somalia reconciliation conference

Evidence

This was not unrelated to local events since the al-Ittihad extremists evicted by the S.S.D.F. had regrouped in southern Somalia (as well as in Somaliland). For some years they had collaborated with allied fundamentalist organizations in Ethiopia, attacking military bases in the Somali (Ogaden) Region 5. A new dimension was added in the summer of 1996 when these groups launched bomb attacks on well-known hotels and restaurants in Addis Ababa. In response, as we have seen, Ethiopian forces promptly retaliated with powerful attacks on al-Ittihad bases in Geedo on the Juba river; at the same time, under the banner of the Intergovernmental Authority on Drought and Development (I.G.A.D.) states charged with Somali affairs, an ambitious reconciliation conference was mounted with the aim of forming a new government. This exercise was held at the pleasant spring resort of Sodere, south of the Ethiopian capital. After weeks of deliberation, this assembly of the usual leaders, established a National Salvation Council with a 41-member council and a rotating chairman. — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 667

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to earlier chapter discussion of Ethiopian retaliation against al-Ittihad in Geedo, and ties the regional I.G.A.D. dynamic to the broader arc Lewis is building. — connects to: US counterterrorism policies radicalized disaffected Somali youth into insurgency — Alexis Okeowo, A Moonless, Starless Sky, 250

Broader Connections

• US counterterrorism policies radicalized disaffected Somali youth into insurgency #expands (0.30) — Alexis Okeowo, A Moonless, Starless Sky, 250