101. Central Intelligence Agency Intelligence Information Cable1
COUNTRY
- Somalia/Ethiopia
SUBJECT
- President Siad’s Pledge for Continued Support to the WSLF. (DOI: Mid-February 1980)
SOURCE
- [4 lines not declassified]
1. Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre called a meeting of Western Somali Liberation Front (WSLF) leaders at the Somali militia training camp near Afgoi in mid-February 1980 and assured them that Somali Government support to the WSLF would not be reduced even if Somalia signed a military agreement with the United States. Siad had become concerned by reports in early February that WSLF leaders were worried that Siad might reduce Somali Government support to the WSLF once an agreement with the United States was signed. According to these reports, WSLF leaders for the first time were discussing the possibility of negotiating with the Ethiopians for autonomy rather than continuing the fight for full independence. When Siad heard these reports, he became very upset and ordered leading Somali officials from the Ogadeni tribe, including Commandant of the Police, Brigadier General Adan Abdi Duale, and Brigadier General Adan Abdullahi Nur, Commandant of the Halane Political Indoctrination Institute for the Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party, to arrange the meeting with WSLF officials. The meeting was attended by over 100 WSLF and Somali Government officials.
2. (Field comment: Source did not know whether Siad specified that type of support the Somali Government would continue to provide the WSLF.)
- Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Staff Material, Horn/Special, Box 4, 2–3/80. Secret; [handling restrictions not declassified]. Sent to the White House Situation Room, Department of State, National Foreign Affairs Center (CIA), DIA, NSC, NSA, and Joint Chiefs of Staff.↩