Haud

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Haud (or Hawd) is the northeastern part of the Ogaden territory of Ethiopia. Haud has poorly defined boundaries but is generally considered the area of Ethiopia east of the city of Harer. For decades following the Italian occupation of Ethiopia in 1941 it (as well as the entire Ogaden) has been an area of conflict and controversy.

The British exerted control of the Ogaden beginning in 1941 as part of the Anglo-Ethiopian Agreement in order to help rebuild Ethiopia. The British administered the Haud as part of their adjacent colony of British Somaliland; even though Ethiopian sovereignity was still recognized in the area. Even after Great Britain removed itself from the rest of Ethiopia, it retained a military prescence in the Haud until 1954. Afterwards the British stressed the area's importance by requiring the Ethiopians to allow Somali tribes free access to grazing lands in the Haud. The precise location of the boundary between Ethiopia and neighboring Italian Somaliland was disputed, which further complicated the issue. Despite UN efforts to promote an agreement, none was reached during the 1950s.

In 1960 when Somalia (British and Italian Somaliland as one nation) gained its independence it refused to recognize any pre-1960 treaties defining the Somali-Ethiopian borders, due to fact that the agreement was made by colonial governments. Despite the need for access to pasturage for local herds, the Somali government even refused to acknowledge the British treaty which guaranteed Somali grazing rights in the Haud. This was because it would indirectly recognize Ethiopian sovereignty over the area. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s frequent border hostilities took between place between the two countries culminating in the 1977-78 Ogaden War which ended in defeat for Somalia. Even though a truce was called following this war; there was still sporadic violence in the Ogaden until 1988.

[edit] Source

  • Theodore M. Vestal, "Consequences of the British Occupation of Ethiopia During World II".
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