However, because of the Somali Civil War and the lack of a functioning central government since the collapse of the Democratic Republic of Somalia in 1991, Ethiopia has the upper hand militarily and economically.

In the 14th and 15th centuries, the Christian rulers of Abyssinia in the Ethiopian highlands became increasingly interested in proselytizing the coastal lands where Islam flourished, particularly in what is now northern Somalia, which was populated by Muslim Somali and other ethnic groups.

[1] Both religious and economic motives were the impetus for Abyssinian incursions in the regions, as the rapid spread of Islam along the vital Zeila trade route was viewed as an existential threat to its existence.

[2] Abyssinian military expeditions were dispatched southeastward from the highlands over the decades to achieve these goals, ultimately serving as a significant unifying force among the Somali and other Muslim nationalities.

[4]The early years of Ahmad's campaign were successful; his forces defeated the Ethiopian ruler Dawit II, and by 1533, all Muslim emirates had been liberated from Christian rule.

[7] Haggai Erlich coined the term 'Ahmed Gragn Syndrome' to describe the deep-seated Ethiopian suspicions and fears of Islam that arose from the devastation of the war.

[10] There is no evidence that Ethiopia controlled any Somali inhabited territory at any point in history prior the Menelik's Expansions to south and south-east in the late 19th century.

When European colonial powers began to exert influence in the Horn of Africa, the Brussels Conference Act of 1890 imposed an arms embargo on the Somali population.

During the same period Ethiopian Emperor Menelik, who was legally armed with rifles by European powers through the port cities of Djibouti and Massawa, began expanding into Somali inhabited territories.

The widely perceived "Ethiopian menace" was a factor in prompting Antonio Cecchi, a major proponent of Italian expansion, to seek an alliance with the Somalis of the south, though his effort failed disastrously when his troops were besieged and massacred at Lafoole.

[21] While previous Ethiopian raids had been primarily disruptive to trade, Emperor Meneliks well armed incursions in the era of colonialism provoked significant unease among the Somali all the way to the Banaadir coast.

This long period of ignorance about the transfer of their regions was facilitated by the lack of 'any semblance' of effective administration of control being present over the Somalis to indicate that they were being annexed by Ethiopia.

These leaflets pronounced his claim to the major Somali coastal city of Mogadishu and it environs (known as the Banaadir region), declaring: "I have come to restore the independence of our country, including Eritrea and the Benadir, whose people will henceforth dwell under the shade of the Ethiopian flag.

He laid claim to them openly, asserting that the ancient Somali coastal region of Banaadir, which encompasses Mogadishu, as well as the adjacent Indian Ocean coastline, rightfully belonged to Ethiopia based on historical grounds.

[25] Following the conclusion of World War II and the establishment of the United Nations, Ethiopia submitted a memorandum to the UN, contending that prior to the era of European colonialism, the Ethiopian empire had encompassed the Indian Ocean coastline of Italian Somaliland.

[27] In the town of Jijiga, incoming Ethiopian authorities instructed the Somali Youth League (SYL) to remove their flag, as they had declared both the party and its emblem as unlawful.

In March 1999, Ethiopian troops reportedly raided the Somali border town of Balanballe in pursuit of members of the Al-Ittihad Al-Islamiya group which had been fighting to unite Ethiopia's eastern Ogaden region with Somalia.

[34] In May 1999, Ethiopian soldiers, with the help of a pro-Ethiopian Somali faction occupied the town of Luuq in southwestern Somalia, close to the borders with Ethiopia and Kenya.

In late June 1999, Ethiopian soldiers, supported by armoured vehicles launched an attack from Luuq that resulted in the capture of Garbahare in the Gedo region, which was previously controlled by the Somali National Front led by Hussein Aideed.

[42] In January 2001, Somalia's TNG Prime Minister, Ali Khalif Galaydh, accused Ethiopia of arming factions opposed to the government, occupying Somali districts and increasing its military presence in the country.

[52] The rise of the Islamic Courts Union raised Ethiopian concerns of an eventual renewed drive for a Greater Somalia, as a strong Somali state not dependent on Addis Ababa was perceived as a security threat.

[53][54] British television station Channel 4 acquired a leaked document detailing a confidential meeting between senior American and Ethiopian officials in Addis Ababa, involving no Somalis, six months prior to the full scale invasion of Somalia during December 2006.

[55] By the end of the second year of the Ethiopian military occupation, the majority of the territory seized from the Islamic Courts Union during the December 2006 and January 2007 invasion had fallen under the control of various Islamist and nationalist resistance groups.

[61] The withdrawal of Ethiopian troops sapped Al-Shabaab of the widespread support it had enjoyed from Somali civilians and across clan lines as a resistance faction during the occupation,[62] but came too late to have a substantial impact on the group's transformation into a formidable oppositional force.

[77] In January 2024, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed signed a deal with the breakaway region of Somaliland for recognition as an independent state in exchange for a 20km naval/commercial base on the northern Somali coast.

Kenyan intellectual Peter Kagwanja observed that security officials in Mogadishu have become increasingly concerned by the possibility of an Ethiopian blitzkrieg akin to the 2006 invasion.

[89] Egyptian officials stated that they would send weapons including armored vehicles, artillery, radars, and drones to Somalia as part of the defence deal.

[89] According to an analysis by Critical Threats, the African Union peacekeeping transition at the end of 2024 could potentially trigger an armed conflict between Egyptian and Somali forces against Ethiopian troops or their proxies.

[93] On 10 September, the Ethiopian military seized control of all airports in the Gedo region of Somalia, including the strategic airfields of Luuq, Dolow, and Bardhere and Garbahare.

He called for the ousting of Somali President Hassan Sheikh and other regional leaders, accusing them of welcoming Ethiopian influence in Mogadishu, Baidoa, Garowe, and Hargeisa.