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LONDON - Ethiopia’s armed forces are seasoned in both conventional and guerrilla tactics, both of which would be needed in any full-scale war with Somalia’s Islamist movement, experts say.

Ethiopian forces have waged two major conventional wars: eventually repelling a invasion Somalia launched in 1977; and fighting Eritrea to a stalemate in 1998-2000, according to experts at Jane’s publishing group

Ethiopian forces have also long waged counter-insurgency campaigns against various guerrilla groups at home

They honed both conventional and guerrilla tactics during the civil war that toppled Ethiopian former military dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991

"They may be a little ramshackle in some aspects of their training, but the Ethiopians have always been tough, mean fighters and they’ve got a lot of experience in the army," Jane’s ******* Weekly’s Helmoed Roemer Heitman said.

Jane’s World Armies and the International Institute of Strategic Studies estimate the Ethiopian National ******* Force (ENDF) at between 150,000 to 180,000 personnel, backed by solid but mainly old Soviet-era ground and air power.

However, Heitman, who spoke by telephone from South Africa, said many of these troops are either tied down on the border with Eritrea or in waging counter-insurgency campaigns at home.

This means that Ethiopia would have to rely on its substantial airlift capability - it has around a dozen Mi-17 troop transport helicopters - to deploy a relatively small force over sprawling Somali territory, Heitman said.

The ENDF has other advantages in air power. With half a dozen Sukhoi-27 bombers, he said, it could hit Somali airports and other targets to prevent the Islamist forces from bringing in supplies from abroad.

It also has 25 old MiG 21 and around a dozen MiG 23 ground attack planes as well as Mi24 attack helicopters which would boost Ethiopian ground advances, he said. However, it is not clear how many are in service, though.