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Despite its shortcomings, the SSDF played a key role in fighting between
Somalia and Ethiopia in the summer of 1982. After a SNA force infiltrated the
Ogaden, joined with the WSLF and attacked an Ethiopian army unit outside Shilabo,
about 150 kilometers northwest of Beledweyne, Ethiopia retaliated by launching
an operation against Somalia. On June 30, 1982, Ethiopian army units, together
with SSDF guerrillas, struck at several points along Ethiopia's southern border
with Somalia. They crushed the SNA unit in Balumbale and then occupied that
village. In August 1982, the Ethiopian/SSDF force took the village of Goldogob,
about 50 kiloeters northwest of Galcaio. After the United States provided
emergency military assistance to Somalia, the Ethiopian attacks ceased. However,
the Ethiopian/SSDF units remained in Balumbale and Goldogob, which Addis Ababa
maintained were part of Ethiopia that had been liberated by the Ethiopian army.
The SSDF disputed the Ethiopian claim, causing a power struggle that eventually
resulted in the destruction of the SSDF's leadership.
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