Conflicts in the Horn of Africa have been occurring since the 17th century BCE. The Horn of Africa includes the nations of Djibouti , Eritrea , Ethiopia , and Somalia .

Ancient [ edit ]

• Invasion of Ancient Egypt by the Kingdom of Kush and the Land of Punt (17th century BC).

Medieval and Early Modern [ edit ]

• Ifat 's conquest of Makhzumi ( c. 1285)
• Conquests of Emperor Amda Seyon I (1314?1344)
• Battle of Gomit (1445) between the Ethiopian Empire and the Adal Sultanate

• Somali?Portuguese conflicts (1505?1543)
• Ethiopian?Adal War (1529?1559)
• Ottoman?Portuguese conflicts (1538?1560)
• Ottoman conquest of Habesh (1554/1557?1589)

• Ottoman?Portuguese conflicts (1586?1589)
• Gobroon ? Bardera War (late 18th century)
• British expedition to Abyssinia (1867?1868)
• Egyptian?Ethiopian War (1874?1876)
• Egyptian invasion of the Eastern Horn of Africa (1874?1885)

• Menelik's Invasions (1878?1904)
• Mahdist War (1881?1899)
• Italo-Ethiopian War of 1887?1889 between the Italy and the Ethiopia
• Banadir resistance (1888?1924) between Italy and Somali rebels
• First Italo-Ethiopian War (1895?1896) between the Italy and the Ethiopia

Early 20th century [ edit ]

• Somaliland campaign (1899?1920) against the United Kingdom , Italy, Ethiopia, and other Somalis
• Battle of Segale (1916) in Ethiopia
• 1922 Burao tax revolt (1922) between Habar Yoonis tribesmen and the United Kingdom
• Abyssinia Crisis (1935) between Ethiopia and Italy
• Second Italo-Ethiopian War (1935?1936) between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ethiopian Empire
• World War II
  • East African campaign (1940?1941) of Italy against the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth of Nations, Belgium and Ethiopia
  • Italian guerrilla war in Ethiopia (1941?1943)
• 1945 Sheikh Bashir rebellion (1945) between Habr Je'lo tribesmen and the United Kingdom

Cold War [ edit ]

• Eritrean War of Independence (1961?1991), between Eritrean liberation fronts (primarily the EPLF and early on also the ELF ) and the Ethiopian Empire (1961?1974) and Marxist Derg -ruled Ethiopia (1974?1991)
• 1961 revolt in Somalia
• Somali?Kenyan conflict (from 1963)
  • Shifta War (1963?1967), separatist insurgency by ethnic Somalis in Kenya
• Eritrean Civil Wars (1972?1974;1980?1981) between the EPLF and ELF
• Ethiopian Civil War (1974?1991), between the Derg and various rebel groups; included the Red Terror
• Oromo conflict (from 1973)
• Ogaden War (1977?1978) between Ethiopia and Somalia
• Somaliland War of Independence (1981-1991), between the Somali National Movement and Somalia
• Ethiopian?Somali Border War (1982)

Post-Cold War [ edit ]

• Somali Civil War (1991?present)
  • War in Somalia (2006?2009)
  • Somali Civil War (2009?present)
• Djiboutian Civil War (1991?1994)
• Hanish Islands conflict (1995) between Yemen and Eritrea
• Second Afar insurgency (1995?2018)
• Insurgency in Ogaden (1995?2018)
  • 2007?2008 Ethiopian crackdown in Ogaden
• Eritrean?Ethiopian War (1998?2000)
• Puntland-Somaliland dispute (1998?present)
• Djiboutian?Eritrean border conflict (2008)
• Gedeo? Guji clashes (1995?2018)
• Oromia?Somali clashes (2016?2018)
• Ethiopian civil conflict (2018?present)
  • Oromo conflict (1973?present)
    • OLA insurgency (2018?present)
  • Tigray War (2020?2022)
  • Benishangul-Gumuz conflict (2019?2022)
  • Afar?Somali clashes (2020?present)
  • War in Amhara (2023?present)
• Al-Fashaga conflict (2020?2022)
• Al-Shabaab invasion of Ethiopia (2022)

See also [ edit ]

• Political history of Eastern Africa (for ancient, medieval, and early modern conflicts)
• History of Djibouti
• History of Eritrea
• History of Ethiopia
• History of Somalia

References [ edit ]

• Horn of Africa Concerns from the Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives