ONLF Position Paper on the Current Dire Situation in the Horn of Africa
The Ogaden National Liberation Front is a grass-root organisation that was created by Ogaden youth activists and civic organisations that rebelled against the meddling of both the Somali government and foreigners from every corner of the world and made the Ogaden Somali people pawns to further other's political agendas. From its inception to date ONLF caters to nobody but the interest of the Ogaden Somalis.
ONLF is a national liberation front that fights for the rights of the Ogaden Somalis to self-determination in order to decide their future as is enshrined in the universal declaration of Human rights and considers Ethiopia as a colonial state that took part in the European Scramble for the colonisation of Africa in the 19th century.
Menelik's letter to the Berlin conference clearly states that Abyssinia (Ethiopia) does not intend to stand idle while Europe partitions Africa and that Menelik demands his share. Apart from this rhetoric Abyssinia had no means to materialise this dream, but the then world powers of that time installed him in the Ogaden by providing him with arms and men and by embargoing the Somali people in the Horn from external supplies as is happening today in another form and under another pretext. Despite all this the Ogaden Somalis resisted and restricted Menelik to the Harar area until the second world war, when the victorious allies disarmed the Somalis in the Ogaden, while gradually re-arming and training new Ethiopian army and handing the disarmed Ogaden people and territory to Ethiopia over a period of 10 years, giving the last part in 1956.
The Ogaden Somalis started their struggle and within few years threatened the New Ethiopia. Again foreign intervention and arms changed the direction of the struggle of the Ogaden Somalis. The Regime in Addis Ababa was advised to divert the attention of the world community that was increasingly anti- colonialism and anti-oppression from sympathising and supporting the just struggle of the Ogaden Somalis by blaming and attacking Somalia and turning the issue into a border problem. The new inexperienced Somali Government fell easily into that trap and from that day onwards the Ogaden cause turned into a border dispute and so-called Somali expansionism. The Ogaden Elders leading the liberation struggle, who were poorly educated and unaware of the forces arrayed against them, were no match for the regional and international forces that demonised and misrepresented the struggle of the Ogaden people.
In the late seventies the budding intellectuals and students from the Ogaden who were scattered in the region around the Horn started to agitate for the revitalisation of the national struggle. This coincided with the renewal of the rhetoric between the two military regimes in Somalia and Ethiopia that was vying for the control of the Horn.
Somalia sensing the budding struggle and sense of revival in the Ogaden struggle and the weaknesses of the regime in Addis Ababa hijacked the struggle and defeated easily the Ethiopian army and captured most of the Ogaden. Cuban troops and Warsaw Pact pilots and aeroplanes defeated the Somali army and reinstated Ethiopian occupation in the Ogaden. While all this was happening leading intellectuals and activist students were languishing in Somali prisons for resisting against Somali government intervention in the struggle of the Ogaden Somalis, knowing well the negative impact this would have on the national struggle.
From that day onwards the Ogaden Somalis decided to untie their fate from Somalia and pursue an independent struggle that clearly differentiates between Somalia and the Ogaden. Thus ONLF was founded on the principle that the Ogaden people are independent and sovereign and have the right to decide their destiny without bowing to any strings from any quarters.
After the fall of the two governments in Somalia and Ethiopia in the early nineties, the new regime in Addis Ababa faced a serious dilemma vis-à-vis the Ogaden cause. There was no alibi to use against the Struggle of the Ogaden Somalis for self-determination. There was no Somali government to blame. A democratic wind was blowing all across the world. Even while ONLF was testing the claim of the new regime of Meles Zenawi that self-determination is attainable through peaceful means, Meles was preparing his scapegoats against the Ogaden Somalis by encouraging the creation of religious organizations such as Itihad-Al-Islam in the Ogaden. He then provoked Al-Itihad-Islam, to take arms against his regime. Furthermore, Meles started dangling the religious card and started claiming that he was fighting Muslim fundamentalists. This gave him the pretext to attack ONLF and dismantle the peaceful political process that was unfolding in the Ogaden.
Despite the regime's efforts to paint itself as championing the cause of uprooting Muslim fundamentalism in the horn, neither the international community nor the different African nations in Ethiopia that were victims of Meles's dictatorial regime bought into his rhetoric. Somalis, Oromos, Amhars, afars, Sidamas and Even his Tigrai tribe, who were tired of dictators pitying them against each and keeping them in perpetual poverty and at war were approaching each other and charting peaceful routes to end the senseless carnage, lack of representative governance and denial of rights of peoples by dictators.
ONLF believes in the right of all nations to self-determination, the rule of law and representative government that comes through democratic practice and one person one vote and the separation of religion and government. The Ogaden Somali people are Muslims and have a right to practice their religion peacefully without prejudice to any other religion or group. ONLF uses defensive combat to defend itself against the Meles militias and the Ogaden people and does not conduct or condone any terrorist act against anybody. ONLF does not have any agendas outside its borders and does not undertake any armed action outside its borders.
ONLF laments the senseless waste of human lives perpetrated by successive Ethiopian regimes and believes that it is in the best interest of all people inside Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa to resolve differences through dialogue and peaceful negotiations. This is possible only if the regime in power decides to stop the endless cycle of violence that it always opts for in or order to deal with political dissent and learn the civilised way of conflict resolution. ONLF bears no grudge against any people in Ethiopia and regards them as their African brothers and knows that the responsibility of the victimisation of the Ogaden people rests solely with the successive Ethiopian regimes. ONLF will pursue the rights of the Ogaden Somalis and will spare no effort in trying to find a peaceful solution to the Ogaden problem regardless of the constant aggression from the regime in Addis Ababa. ONLF will engage all forces in Ethiopia and will take part in any effort that leads to a change in the current situation in Ethiopia regardless of political differences as long as the other parties are ready to forgo any bias and come with open mind that can tolerate differences.
As ONLF has stated in its press release ( http://www.onlf.org/pressAug062006.htm ) regarding the invasion and occupation of Somalia by Meles, It believes that the current adventurism of Meles brings more harm than good to the whole region of the Horn of Africa. Both the Somali people and the peoples of Ethiopia have succeeded in putting behind the hatchets provided by self-serving regimes that disregarded them and wasted their youngsters in the hundreds of thousands. For the first time the African people in Horn of Africa, especially the peoples in both Ethiopia and Somalia were basking in new found brotherliness and cessation of hostilities as peoples but unfortunately the current debacle by Ethiopia has created suspicion and fear among all communities in the Horn of Africa. Meles Zenawi, who failed to adhere to the rule of law and keep power by democratic means, had opted for violence inside and outside Ethiopia, instead of solving the age old problems that he inherited and ushering a new era of peace in the Horn of Africa. Creating outside enemies and threats is an old Machiavellian ploy that is familiar throughout history, and blaming and attacking government- less Somalia has become an easy target for Meles after failing to quell internal rebellion from the Ethiopian people or defeating the Liberation fronts. Despite the utterances of some leaders of the Islamic courts, there was no Somali force capable of threatening Ethiopia's security. It was clear to all reasonable people with no vested interests in the Horn of Africa, the claim that IC forces, composed of volunteer youths and elderly businessmen, with informal ties to different clan militias whose interests often conflicted one another could mount any meaningful campaign against the battle seasoned and well armed Ethiopian army. The haste with which Meles rushed to instigate this aggression and capture Somalia shows how desperate he is to divert attention from his internal failures.
ONLF deeply regrets the turn of events in Somalia and strongly urges that The Somali people should be left alone to find a viable solution to their problems. The meddling of Ethiopia and other forces at different times has kept the Somali people apart. Every time that a just solution posses itself, unwarranted interference exacerbates the situation and throws everything back to square one.
The people of Somalia are the sole determinants of who their legitimate representative is. It is not the place of the ONLF to determine this for them. The ONLF has said on multiple occasions that Ethiopia is determined to undermine the sovereignty of Somalia and frustrate efforts aimed at achieving peace and a lasting reconciliation in Somalia . The ONLF bears no ill will toward any Somali political party, organization or the Transitional Federal Government (TFG).We are not a party to the Somali conflict and encourage all the respective political entities in Somalia to reconcile their differences for the sake of their nation. We believe that the TPLF led regime in power in Ethiopia has repeatedly violated the arms embargo on Somalia by arming various actors thereby encouraging continued conflict among Somalis for over a decade. We call Ethiopia to respect the UN resolution and withdraw from Somalia immediately.
ONLF believes that the use of force to bring change in Somalia will only exacerbate the situation and the only way forward is peaceful dialogue between all concerned parties without the interference of external actors. The last thirty years provides barometers that show force does not work in Somalia. We strongly advice the TFG and other Somali organisations to bury their hatchet and solve their differences through dialogue. We strongly urge the international community to force Ethiopia out of Somalia and help the warring parties commence dialogue in neutral venue far away from the Horn of Africa.
ONLF would like to draw the attention of the international community to the fact that an ethnic cleansing of the Ogaden people has started in Somalia , Kenya and Ethiopia . Although ONLF is a pan Somali clan that represents all Somalis in the Ogaden, The current Ethiopian regime targets the Ogaden people, which it considers as the backbone of the armed struggle against its forces in Ethiopia . Mr. Zenawi's regime has consistently been abusing and systematically conducting pogroms in the Ogaden against this people for the last fifteen years and now that it got access to Somalia , all the Ogaden refugees in Somalia are being branded as terrorists and hunted down mercilessly. It is not the first time that Ogaden refugees were massacred and with no recourse to justice. In 1991 when the Somali government fell half a million Ogaden refugees were left at the mercy of the marauding crowds in Somalia and many were mercilessly massacred in Northern and central Somalia, and the UN under whose protection they were supposed to be, abandoned them to their fate and never even took the trouble to mention their demise. Now that the same fate is repeating itself, again as usual, the international community is again watching the repeat of the same calamity for members of the Ogaden Somalis. Even the Kenyan government is now participating in collecting Somalis from the Ogaden who are fleeing The Ethiopians across the Somali border and turning them over to Ethiopia as has happened recently. Kenya turned over to the 'Transitional government of Somalia ' five people from Ogadenia who were immediately transferred to Addis Ababa . This blatant violation of their human rights heralds a new trend that can be equated with what happened to the Jews in Europe in the Second World War- a pogrom of the Ogaden people in the Horn of Africa ! We appeal to the international community to avert this disaster in the making as it would not be of any value lamenting in hindsight as is the custom nowadays.
We particularly ask the UN, United States, AU, EU and Arab league to intervene in time and take this issue seriously in order to avert a catastrophe in the making against a poor stateless and voiceless nomadic people whose rights is being trampled over without recourse to any justice from any quarter.
Finally we take this opportunity to stress that ONLF is the sole legitimate representative of the people of Ogaden. No political organization originating from the Somali Republic has the authority to speak for the people of Ogaden, or mount any meaningful action in the Ogaden; ONLF has a principled stand against any interference from any quarter in the affairs of the Ogaden Somali people. The destiny of Ogaden people resides with no other people than themselves. Also we would take this opportunity to remind any Government in Somalia and the international community that Ogaden Somali people are an integral part of the Somali Nation in the Horn of Africa and any ruler who ignores or transgresses against the rights of the Ogaden Somalis is building phantom castles in the air. It is unfortunate that the fate of Somalia and the Ogaden are intertwined, as fear of Ogaden success always drives Ethiopia to victimise Somalia and the Somali people. It is time that the international community look seriously into the root cause of the never ending cycle of violence between Somalia and Ethiopia which is the Ogaden Cause and address it in a just and viable way.
The status quo which has been unchanged for decades brought nothing but misery to all concerned.
May Justice Prevail! i wish my beloved land Peace and Prosperity..
No comments:
Post a Comment