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Title: | The United States, Ethiopia and the 1963 Somali-Soviet Arms Deal: Containment and the Balance of Power Dilemma in the Horn of Africa |
Author: | Lefebvre, Jeffrey A. |
Year: | 1998 |
Periodical: | Journal of Modern African Studies |
Volume: | 36 |
Issue: | 4 |
Period: | December |
Pages: | 611-643 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | Eritrea Somalia Soviet Union United States |
Subjects: | foreign policy arms trade Inter-African Relations international relations Military, Defense and Arms Politics and Government |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/161927 |
Abstract: | Moscow achieved an important strategic breakthrough within the moderate African camp in November 1963, when Somalia announced that it would accept a 30 million dollar military aid offer from the Soviet Union, thereby foiling an attempt by the West to preclude Soviet military aid to the country. During 1962-1963, a consortium of Western powers, led by the United States, had presented a series of arms packages of increasing value to Mogadishu. This article explores three questions that reveal the lessons and long-term consequences of the 1963 Soviet-Somali arms agreement: 1) Why did the Kennedy administration offer military aid to Somalia despite Ethiopian objections? 2) Why did Washington and the Western powers decline to outbid Moscow in Somalia? 3) Why did the US effort to prevent Soviet military penetration in the Horn of Africa fail? The article shows that Kennedy's New Frontier approach encouraged the belief that the US should play the role of military 'balancer' between Ethiopia and Somalia. However, as a consequence of the Pentagon's narrow focus on maintaining access to Kagnew Station in Eritrea, a pro-Ethiopia slant developed in US policy towards the Horn. While Mogadishu played the Eastern against the Western blocs to gain military advantage, Addis Ababa used the Cold War to acquire increased 'rent' payments for Kagnew Station. Notes, ref. |