The Western Somali Liberation Front (; abbreviated WSLF) was a separatist rebel group fighting in eastern Ethiopia to create an independent state. It played a major role in the Ogaden War of 1977-78 assisting the invading Somali Army. History Somali guerrilla activity in the Ogaden and in the Haud area east of Harar flared sporadically after Somalia gained independence in 1960. Guerrilla activity remained essentially a police concern until the 1964 Ethiopian–Somali Border War erupted. When Siad Barre seized power in Mogadishu in 1969, he thwarted attempts at an understanding between Ethiopia and Somalia. He pledged to renew efforts to establish Greater Somalia that would encompass about one-third of Ethiopia's territory. Encouraged by the breakdown of authority in Addis Ababa after the 1974 overthrow of Haile Selassie, Somalia provided equipment, as well as moral and organizational support to insurgent movements in the Ogaden and southern Ethiopia. The WSLF was founded by a young captain called Yusuf Dheere Mohamed Sugaal (Yuusuf the tall man) who was educated and trained in Syria, after finishing high school in Hargeisa. Upon his return from Syria, Yusuf Dheere has created the Ururka Dhalinyara Soomaali Galbeed or the Western Somali Youth Organization. Yusuf Dheere, who was well connected and from a noble family, met the Somali president Siad Barre in 1973 after putting the Somali elders behind his plan, and convinced the Somali President to do something about the Ogaden region. So Siad Barre gave Yusuf Dheere 2 years to give diplomacy a chance and to prepare the Somali National Army, for it was still unproven. In the meanwhile, Yusuf Dheere was told to recruit about 1500 volunteers and was permitted rations for only 1500 people; in the space of a month, he recruited over 3000 soldiers, most of them were old fighters from all over the country. Two years after the initial meeting, and after going through the UN and unsuccessful peace meeting with Emperor Haile Selassie, Yusuf Dheere was given the go ahead he wanted and was told to get control of at least 60% of the Ogaden region before the Somali army would involve itself in the fighting. The WSLF found its opportunity when the Derg overthrew Haile Selassie in 1974, and switched from American support to the Soviet Union. Two years later, when the WSLF had control of most of the Ogaden, the first time since the Second World War that all