Controlling Jigjiga, W.S.L.F. forces swept on towards Harar in pursuit of their ultimate objective of freeing the entire Somali area up to the Awash Valley of Ethiopian domination. This would entail the expulsion of the Ethiopians from areas round Harar with mixed Somali, Oromo (Galla) and 'Afar populations and require defeat of the regrouped Ethiopian forces in Harar and Dire Dawa. As the theatre of conflict grew larger, involving associated ethnic groups, official W.S.L.F. statements as well as those from the Mogadishu government emphasized the close affinity of the Somalis and Arussi and other Oromo in Bale and the Harar area. The terms 'Abo-Somali' and 'Wariya-Somali' (from abo in Oromo and wariya in Somali, used to attract a person's attention) were coined to emphasise the close affinity between the Somali members of the W.S.L.F. and their Oromo allies; and on these lines, the Somali Abo Liberation Front (S.A.L.F.) was formed as an offshoot of the W.S.L.F.

I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Som…, loc. 566