Somalia's invasion of the region , precursor to the wider war, [ 33 ] met with the Soviet Union's disapproval, leading the superpower to end its support for Somalia and to fully support Ethiopia instead.
On 23 January , Cuban armored brigades inflicted the worst losses the Somali forces had ever taken in a single action since the start of the war. The Ethiopian-Cuban force equipped with tanks, artillery pieces and 46 combat aircraft [ 27 ] prevailed at Harar and Jijiga , and began to push the Somalis systematically out of the Ogaden. On 23 March , the Ethiopian government declared that the last border post had been regained, thus ending the war. The war left Somalia with a disorganized and demoralized army as well as a heavy disapproval from its population.
These conditions led to a revolt in the army which eventually spiraled into the ongoing Somali Civil War. The Ogaden is a vast plateau that is overwhelmingly inhabited by Somali people. It represents the westernmost region inhabited by the Somalis in the Horn of Africa , and is located to the south and southeast of the Ethiopian Highlands.
During the late s, as European colonial powers advanced into the Horn of Africa , Ethiopian Emperor Menelik II launched invasions into Somali-inhabited territories as part of his efforts to expand the Ethiopian Empire.
These encroachments primarily affected the Ogaden region. The Ethiopian Empire imported a significant amount of firearms from European powers in this period, [ 41 ] [ 42 ] and the large scale importation of European arms completely upset the balance of power between the Somalis and the Ethiopian Empire, as the colonial powers blocked Somalis from accessing firearms.
