From Ogaden to Minneapolis: Somalia’s Chaos Didn’t Stay There
The 1977 Somali invasion of Ethiopia's Ogaden region, backed by initial Soviet support, collapsed when the USSR shifted allegiance to Ethiopia, leading to long-term instability in Somalia. This instability culminated in civil war, mass displacement, and the emergence of large Somali refugee communities in cities like Minneapolis. Decades later, some members of that diaspora were implicated in a major pandemic relief fraud scheme involving misuse of federal child nutrition funds.
- ▪In 1977, Somalia invaded Ethiopia's Ogaden region to unite ethnic Somalis, but lost Soviet support as the USSR backed Ethiopia instead.
- ▪The defeat weakened Siad Barre's regime, contributing to civil war, state collapse in 1991, and mass displacement of Somalis.
- ▪Many Somali refugees resettled in Minneapolis, where in 2022 a large-scale fraud case involving $250 million in pandemic relief funds was uncovered.
- ▪The Feeding Our Future scheme involved 79 defendants, with 63 found guilty for diverting funds through false claims and shell companies.
- ▪Loosened federal oversight during the pandemic enabled the fraud, which exploited emergency funding rules for child nutrition programs.
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From Ogaden to Minneapolis: Somalia’s Chaos Didn’t Stay There David Manney | 4:40 PM on May 01, 2026 Kevin Wolf/AP Images for CPD Action This may sound like a Kevin Bacon-style degree-of-separation connection, but please bear with me. I'm going to try to connect a dumb decision in 1977 that ultimately led to Somali immigration to Minneapolis. Advertisement googletag.cmd.push(function () { googletag.display("div-gpt-300x250_3"); //googletag.pubads().refresh([gptAdSlot["div-gpt-300x250_3"]]) }); Essentially, it was a period of chaos that led to corruption.When Siad Barre ordered the invasion of Ogaden in 1977, the objective seemed straightforward: seize territory and unite ethnic Somalis under a single flag.
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