Russian
& East German Documents on Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa, 1977-78
SED
Archives, Memorandum on Soviet Reaction to Libyan Proposal on Somali-Ethiopian
Conflict, 4 April 1978
The Soviet Ambassador in Tripoli received instruction
to communicate the following to [Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Salam] Jalloud:
The proposals of the Libyan leadership on the settlement
of the Somali-Ethiopian conflict have been carefully examined in Moscow. We
have communicated to the Ethiopians the recent Libyan desire to receive in
Tripoli the chairman of the Provisional Military Administrative Council (PMAC),
based on the fact that only the Ethiopian side itself can make a decisions
in this respect. The Ethiopian side had previously communicated to us that
Mengistu could not come to Libya at the end of February for negotiations with
Siad Barre, for reasons which the PMAC chairman told you personally.
The Libyan side is aware of the Soviet position
with respect to the procedure for a political settlement in the area of the
Horn of Africa. We have fully explained our point of view during your recent
visit to Moscow. There is only one just basis for the settlement of the conflict
- this is the mutual respect of sovereignty, territorial integrity, and non-interference
in domestic matters of the other side. All attempts to achieve a political
settlement on any other basis were bound to destabilize such a solution and
burden it with new difficulties.
The withdrawal of Somali troops from the Ogaden
is only a step in the right direction, conditioned by the existing situation.
The conditions for a settlement as officially announced by the Somali leadership,
in our opinion, only served to postpone the start of negotiations. These conditions,
as is known, touch upon the sovereign rights of Ethiopia and upon problems
which lie in its domestic realm. The solution of the national question in
the Ogaden belongs to this.
One cannot disregard the fact that the USA and
other Western powers, which verbally favor a settlement of the conflict at
the Horn of Africa, in fact seek to make such a settlement more difficult
in order to strengthen their position in this area.
In our opinion the main task now is to put the
settlement of the conflict at the Horn of Africa on the tracks of peaceful
negotiations. The solution of this problem can not depend on whether Ethiopia
and Somalia can achieve agreement on all other problems in their relationship.
It is now especially important to influence the Somali leadership to assume
a constructive position and to avoid giving the imperialist and other reactionary
forces the opportunity to exploit Somalia for their designs.
With respect to the situation in Eritrea, the Soviet
Union has viewed and still views this in conformity with the UN and OAU resolutions
as an internal Ethiopian matter. We favor a political solution of this question
by negotiations between the central government and the Eritrean organizations.
It is our strong conviction that the current attitude of the Eritrean organizations
which favor the separation of Eritrea from Ethiopia contradicts the interests
of the Ethiopian Revolution and the progressive forces in this area and is
only of advantage to the imperialists and the reaction.
Libya and other progressive Arab states can use
their authority and influence to convince the Eritrean organizations to terminate
the fighting and go the way of a peaceful solution of the Eritrean problem
in the framework of a unified Ethiopian state.
[Source:
SAPMO-BArch, DY30 IV 2/2.035/127; document obtained and translated by Christian
F. Ostermann.]
