Ogaden heroes don’t die.

ONLF – Clarifying Ethiopian False claims against The Swedish Journalists illegally detained

2011-10-23T04:32:00.000-07:00

  Statement :

                                                                      Date.October 17 2011

ONLF – Clarifying Ethiopian False claims against The Swedish Journalists illegally detained

The Ethiopian regime of Meles Zenawei is going to charge Matin Schibbye and Johan Perrson tomorrow in A Kangaroo Court in Addis Ababa on a trumpeted charge of Terrorism. The regime has set up an elaborate program of manufacturing false and concocted ‘evidence’ after their ill-trained solders in Ogaden shot the unarmed Journalists in Ogaden. First they falsely claimed that they had captured two ONLF liberation Army members, in order to say later they have witnesses from ONLF to testify against the Journalists. No ONLF Liberation Army soldiers or members were captured with the two journalists, but since Ethiopia has succeeded in deluding even the UN Somalia Monitoring Group, who interviewed and used as evidence against Eritrea, tortured inmates in Jail ogaden, the Ethiopian regime is planning the same tactic in using poor victims in Jail ogaden to testify against the journalists.

Secondly, they manufactured a ‘video’ doctored with a few additions from the journalists personal souvenir clips and forced the journalists, in violation of the Geneva conventions, to implicate themselves. Furthermore, the regime claimed that the journalists were trained by ONLF fighter in Galkayo- Somalia to use small arms. No ONLF member is safe in Puntland, let alone having training camp there. It is on record that even civilians from Ogaden are harassed and forcefully sent back to Ethiopian security. Therefore, the claim that ONLF trained the Journalists is a baseless, cheap and pathetic attempt to hide a heinous crime committed by the Ethiopian Army. Actually, this is a clear proof to the world about culture and webs of lie this regime engages in in denying the rights of the Ogaden and Ethiopian peoples.

The Ethiopian government is greatly threatened specifically by these two journalists because it was afraid they will uncover the scorched earth policy and genocide it committed in Ogaden in order to clear the land for oil companies such as Lundin, which has now re-invented itself as African Oil, PETRONAS and others, in whose name hundreds of thousands of Ogaden Somalis were either displaced, killed or starved.

The Ethiopian government is systematically violating the Human, Economic, political and Humanitarian Rights of the Ogaden people. It is committing genocide in Ogaden by denying the people the right to life by blockading aid and trade against specific clans in Ogaden. Furthermore, ONLF was part of the government, during the transitional period in Ethiopia, but the regime denying ONLF the opportunity to pursue peacefully the right of the Ogaden people to self-determination by attacking ONLF and destroying the democratically elected Ogaden parliament in 1994. Hence, ONLF is fighting a defensive war that has been imposed on It by the Zenawi regime and has called on many occasions for an internationally mediated settlement of the Ogaden issue. Instead, Ethiopia refused all attempts by the international community to mediate and as such, the Ethiopian claim that ONLF is a terrorist organisation has no legal or moral basis. If the right of people to defend themselves from unjust rule is terrorism, Meles Zenawi himself and the TPLF would qualify for terrorism and all liberation movements including those that liberated USA and most of the African countries from colonialism and oppression would qualify as terrorists.

Finally, ONLF calls upon all people with conscience to condemn Ethiopian government mockery of justice and stand up for both the Journalists imprisoned and humiliated in Ethiopia and the voiceless multitudes in Ogaden and Ethiopia.

Ogaden National Liberation Front

STATEMENT Ethiopia: Killing Civilians and Humanitarian Workers in the Ogaden: Unacceptable, Repugnant and Immoral.

2011-09-10T20:08:00.000-07:00

Although prestigious international and national human rights organizations, have issued several reports about well-documented human rights violations in the Ogaden and elsewhere in Ethiopia by the current Ethiopian government, the international community has remained tight-lipped about those violations for the last nineteen years. Nevertheless, the Ogaden Human Rights Committee has not given up hope of the international community's help to force Ethiopia to honour its commitments to internationally accepted human rights principles. Hence, the OHRC requests and recommends the following:

RECOMMEENDATIONS AND APPEALS:

To: International Community, United Nations, Ethiopian Government and Ogaden National Liberation Front:

The Ethiopian government and the Ogaden National Liberation Front, declare immediate, comprehensive, unconditional and verifiable cease-fire in the Ogaden.

The international community exert more pressure on all the parties to the conflict in the Ogaden in order to reach a peaceful negotiated settlement, which guarantees the Ogaden people’s inalienable right to self-determination through a fair and free referendum.

Since there is no confidence between the warring sides the Ogaden Human Rights Committee urges the United States and European Union to act as mediators and facilitators in order to put an end the senseless carnage in the Ogaden.

The Ogaden Human Rights Committee urges the Ethiopian government, the Ogaden National Liberation Front to allow all humanitarian and relief organisations to operate freely in the Ogaden as well as international and local human rights organisations and the international press.
Perpetrators of war crimes and other atrocities in the Ogaden should be brought before an international tribunal.

The United Nations appoint a Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Ogaden.
The Ethiopian government and Ogaden National Liberation Front give ICRC free access to all detainees in their custodies.

For the last sixteen years, aid workers in the Ogaden were abducted, harassed, intimidated and looted at gunpoint and each of the warring sides accused them of helping the other side.

Ethiopian Authorities, who do not like the outside world to know the real situation in the Ogaden, expelled International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) - Doctors without Borders and other International Humanitarian Organizations from the Ogaden, in July 2007. At the time the International Humanitarian Organizations, which operate in some parts of the Ogaden, expressed timidly their concern and apprehension at the Ethiopian government’s depopulation and starvation campaign in the region as well as mismanaging of the humanitarian aid and commandeering their transportation and using it for military purposes.

In April 2011, Mr Jakob Kellenberger, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), met in Addis Ababa with the Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and asked him the return of the ICRC delegation to the Ogaden to resume its humanitarian work. But the Ethiopian Prime Minister has refused his request.

The Ogaden Human Rights Committee deplores the Ethiopian government’s decision to not allow ICRC’s staff to resume its much needed humanitarian work in the Ogaden and demands its reversal as well as allowing more humanitarian and relief organisations to operate in the Ogaden without restrictions, regardless of nationality or religion.

On 14th May 2011, United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP) said that one of its drivers had been killed in an ambush by unknown gunmen in an attack that left another staff member wounded. Two other persons were also missing. The incident took place in Galaalshe, Fiiq region.

The Ogaden Human Rights Committee (OHRC) is shocked and distressed by the killing and targeting humanitarian workers in the Ogaden and extends its sincere condolences to the family and relatives who lost their loved one in this despicable terror attack, and asks for an independent, transparent and thorough investigation into the circumstances, which led to this human tragedy as well as the immediate and unconstitutional release of the missing two individuals.

The Ogaden Human Rights Committee reiterates its condemnation and disapproval of imposing restrictions on humanitarian organisations’ movements, intimidation and abduction of aid workers as well as targeting civilian population in the Ogaden.

As has been repeatedly documented by the Ogaden Human Rights Committee and international human rights organizations, the state of human rights in the Ogaden has gone from bad to worse in the recent past. The abysmal track record of the Ethiopian Government has been recently aggravated by natural calamities-mostly man made- and senseless wars, which had primarily been caused by the ill-devised policies of the current government.

Today, the situation in the Ogaden is very tense and alarming. The ongoing struggle for self-determination and independence in the Ogaden continues to cause more human suffering and threatens peace and stability in the volatile region of the Horn of Africa.

The Ethiopian government’s scorched earth policy in the Ogaden was in place since early 1992 when the ONLF has called for referendum on self-determination and independence for the Ogaden.

The Ethiopian government’s strategy in the Ogaden is based on; deliberate economic strangulation, political marginalization and use of brutal military force to suppress all legitimate demands from the population including the right to self-determination.

As a part of the Ethiopian government’s policy of starving out the civilian population in the Ogaden to submission, its army has imposed an economic blockade on many towns and villages in the region. This blockade has caused an enormous human suffering. The most affected areas by the military campaign are: the regions of Dhagaxbuur, Fiiq, Qabridaharre, Wardheer, Godey and some parts of Jigjiga, where many civilians were killed and their villages were depopulated by the government troops and allied militias, modelled on Sudanese Janjaweed militias, known locally as Liyu Police.

Article 54 -Protection of objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population -of the protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 states that "Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited. It is prohibited to attack, destroy, remove or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as foodstuffs, agricultural areas for the production of foodstuffs, crops, livestock, drinking water installations and supplies and irrigation works, for the specific purpose of denying them for their sustenance value to the civilian population or to the adverse party, whatever the motive, whether in order to starve out civilians, to cause them to move away, or for any other motives."

However, in an attempt to restrict people's movements, terrorize the civilian population and stop trade movements, the Ethiopian government has blocked up all commercial roads leading to the main commercial centres in the region. And confiscated lorries carrying food supplies in order to starve out the civilian population. It also depopulated and razed entirely to the ground many villages and hamlets.

There is no doubt that the human rights situation will continue to deteriorate dramatically in the Ogaden unless the international community steps in to stop the inhuman policies of the Ethiopian government in the Ogaden.

The Ogaden conflict is not different from other conflicts in the world, which the international community is involved and committed to resolving as a mediator or facilitator. The last conflict in Africa, which was resolved through negotiation with the help of the international community, was the war in the Southern Sudan. The conflict in the Ogaden deserves the attention and the positive intervention of the international community.

Drought and Corruption in the Horn of Africa, Specially in the Ogaden region.

2011-03-24T22:06:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday March 22 the 18th World Water Day took place amidst negligible media coverage. Its theme was “Water cities: responding to the urban challenge”, a nod towards the pressures that rapid urbanisation and industrialisation have on water supplies in ballooning cities.

Established by the United Nations (UN) in 1993, its purpose is to raise awareness of the importance of freshwater access and to advocate for more sustainable water management. With the world focused on unfolding events in Libya and Japan, and the UN and its agencies holding close to 100 such observance days in any given year - including World Television Day - the lack of media exposure can be forgiven. However, in the Horn of Africa another potential humanitarian crisis based on access to – and the politics of – water has been brewing, worsened by allegations of corruption at a major international organisation and - as revealed to Think Africa Press - bribery being intrinsic to obtaining necessary water supplies.

For several years the problem of water shortages and droughts has been a major issue in Ethiopia and Somalia. Irregular and infrequent rainfalls have long been a fear for the nomads who populate a large portion of the region: the whole basis for a nomadic lifestyle is in part rooted in the continuous search for water sources. As the countries of the Horn become more urbanised however, new concerns are developing which perfectly chime with this year’s World Water Day theme. Since December 2010, water prices have increased by an alarming 300%, plunging many into increasing debt as incomes are depleted through the need to obtain an essential commodity.

Horn hydropolitics

On the surface, this appears as nothing more than a climatic disaster compounded by external economic factors, in this case the huge global demand for food commodities. Certainly, the increase in water prices is largely down to man and nature squeezing supply, together with humanity’s insatiable appetite driving up demand. However, an ongoing conflict between rebel forces and the Ethiopian government’s military and Islamist militias in Somalia is exacerbating the drought. Furthermore, allegations of neglect and possible corruption at the World Food Programme (WFP) from last year continue to haunt the agency.

The Somali Region of Ethiopia, often referred to as ‘Ogaden’ by its inhabitants, is reportedly suffering more than other areas of the country due to deliberate policies of the federal government in withholding water supplies for political reasons. The Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) has long been at war with those in the country’s largest region, many of whom consider Ethiopian rule as a form of occupation. The WFP, together with the governments of Ethiopia and Somalia, remain largely responsible for managing and organising the distribution of food aid provided under various multilateral and bilateral provisions.

Where is the water?

Contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars are given out to logistics firms – many local – tasked with moving water around the country to those most in need. But the allocation of food and water aid has largely been a catastrophe. In September 2008, British TV news programme Channel 4 News exposed details of the usage of food aid as a weapon against rebels and other anti-government forces in Ethiopia. In Somalia during the same year, it was reported that only 12% of food destined for the people actually reached them. Last spring the WFP had to respond to claims by a UN Monitoring Group report that food and water aid was effectively being stolen by a cartel of businessmen, militias and even the WFP’s own personnel, leading to claims of corruption in the organisation. The WFP denied the claims, arguing they were based on "hearsay" and "commonly held perceptions". In the autumn of 2010, Human Rights Watch produced a detailed report outlining the extent to which aid meant to support basic services – such as water provision – was being used as a means of repression by Ethiopian government forces against rebels and subject to fraudulent behaviour.

As the UN again warns about a potential humanitarian crisis due to a major drought, Somalia and the Somali Region of Ethiopia are seen as at risk to ‘limited humanitarian access’. In Somalia alone, some 2.4 million people out of an estimated 7.2 million are in need of aid relief. At the same time, new assertions are being made against the WFP’s inadequacy in Somalia and the Ethiopian government’s deliberate policy of blocking water to the Somali Region. The accusations were aired by US international public broadcaster Voice of America, which broadcast an appeal by rebel group Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF). According to the news report, rebels claim that the government is purposely blocking aid as part of a tactic in the ongoing conflict in the region.

A price to pay

Speaking to Think Africa Press, a Somali NGO worker based in Ethiopia described the problems of obtaining water through official distribution organisations and the actions of military personnel in seeking bribery. "I had to send $500 to my family members so they can pay a private truck to deliver water to them from Dhagbur to Dig town," he said. "The area they (about 20 family members) live in is in a remote rural area and the droughts have gotten so extreme that private trucks have to be paid. To add insult to injury, the Ethiopian army intercepted the truck and we had to pay extra bribery money for them to release the truck. We are going to have to repeat this next week because the water is only going to last for 7 days."

It would be wrong to jump to conclusions based on the evidence thus far. The WFP itself has brushed aside negative reports of its work and continues to strongly deny assertions of corruption. But it appears that something is going critically wrong with the logistical mechanisms of allocating and managing water. The claims made by the UN Monitoring Group last year together with reports by certain media outlets recently paint a damaging portrait of the WFP: at the very least it is culpable of poor management and wastage of financial resource; at worst, it may be involved in some capacity in corruption of aid provision. If further evidence of the latter is forthcoming, it will only continue to undermine the entire aid industry at a time when the sector already feels under siege.
About the Author
Dominic Wall

source

http://thinkafricapress.com/article/drought-and-corruption-horn-africa

Past Muslim-Christian relations

2010-12-31T07:29:00.000-08:00

Past Muslim-Christian relations

Historically, Ethiopia was a Christian empire involved in fierce expansionist conflicts with the Adal Emirate that was predominantly run by Somali religious elites with the help of Arabs and Ottoman Turkish Empire. With the appearance of Imam Ahmed Ibrahim Al-Ghazi, other wise known as Ahmed Guray or the left-handed in the early 16th century in Harar, the religious divide between Christian highlanders and the Muslim Somalis sharpened. The Portuguese and Ottoman empires’ support to Abyssinia and Ahmed Guray respectively reinforced the religious sentiment and hatred on both sides (Rediker, 2003). Almost four centuries latter Sayid Mohammed Abdullahi Hassan emerged with his Dervish movement, fighting in turn against Britain, Italy and Ethiopia for 21 years until he died in 1921. Sayid Mohammed had relentlessly called upon the Somali people to follow his jihad against Christian invaders (Latin, 2004). This revived existing religious tension and Somali anger at the continuous incursion and territorial claims of Ethiopian and Christian highland authority over the Ogaden.

The 1960s Nasrullah uprising was another manifestation of religious mobilization. It was established in 1963 in the Ogaden to struggle for the independence of the region. Garad Makhtal Garad Dahir was elected as its first chairman and highly respected local clerics such as Sheikh Ibrahim Hashi and Sheikh Ali Suufi were among its leaders (Ansari, 2008, Markakis, 1987). The Arabic term Nasru-laah itself has far-reaching meaning in Islamic terminology as it is another way of saying ‘sacrifice for the sake of Allah’. This connotation and the rhetoric used by the Nasrullah leaders are proof of the limited place of nationalism in the movement. In the course of these events, from Ahmed Guray to Nasrullah, perceived threats have been built up on both sides. The Somalis began to consider other Ethiopians as their primary enemy and vice versa. Since the wars that spurred this enmity were strongly driven by religious undertones, religion was prominent in how the two sides framed each other. Socioeconomic and political factors both aggravated or eased tensions between the two.

The 1969 coup d’état in Somalia and the 1974 revolution in Ethiopia both came with different discourses. The leaders of both revolutions, Siad Barre in Somalia and Mengistu Hailemariam in Ethiopia, committed themselves to secularism, namely scientific socialism. In Ethiopia it was at this point that Muslims felt that the regime was no longer a Christian one. The establishment of the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs in Ethiopia in 1976 was another step forward in Christian-Muslim relations (Ahmed, 2006). Nevertheless, this was not enough to extinguish the religious factor in the ongoing tensions between Somalis and the Ethiopian regime.

The Role of Religion in the Ogaden Conflict

2010-12-31T07:02:00.000-08:00

The Role of Religion in the Ogaden Conflict

By Mohammed Mealin Seid

Published on: Jan 26, 2009

Introduction

For a long time Ethiopia’s Somali Regional State or Ogaden has been a theatre of violent confrontation between the Somalis living there and the Ethiopian authorities. Through history such conflicts have been launched under different pretexts by different groups (Hagmann, 2005). Religion played a prominent role in the campaigns of Ahmed Guray in the early 16th century, the Dervish movement of Sayid Mohammed Abdullahi Hassan in the late 19th and early 20th century and the late Nasrullah movement of the 1960s (Abbink, 2003). Leaders on both the Ethiopian and Somali sides have often been religious men or they operated under the influence of a religious man. In contrast, however, from the 1970s up to today, secessionism, irredentism and nationalism have been the main parlance of the conflict.

Without denying the presence of al-shabaab and the United Western Somali Liberation Fronts (UWSLF) in the Somali Regional State, both of which are jihadists, the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) and the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) are the primary actors in the Ogaden conflict, which has been ongoing since 1994 (HRW, 2008). According to Articles 11 and 27 of the Ethiopian constitution, Ethiopia is a secular state that recognizes the equality of religions (FDRE, 1995). Similarly, ONLF claims to be a purely nationalistic organization struggling for the freedom of the people in the region. In spite of these disassociations from religion, one can, in reality, observe that religion—Christianity in the case of the Ethiopian army and Islam in the case of ONLF—has a significant role in the waging and continuation of the conflict. Religion is intertwined with historical, social and political factors that contribute to conflict dynamics in Ethiopia’s Somali inhabited lowlands.

This article does not argue that either the ONLF or Ethiopia are religious entities, nor does it contend that the conflict between the two is a religious one. In order to understand the role of religion in the Ogaden conflict and the factors that may maximize it the article focuses on two interrelated themes. The first one concerns the religious identities that the parties to the conflict claim and how these identities have influenced violent conflicts so far. The second theme focuses on the behaviour of these actors in the conflict and how they deliberately mobilized religious overtones, which partly transformed a political conflict into a religious one

The Democratic-Republic of Ogadenia Declaration of Independence

2010-09-18T09:01:00.000-07:00

For the righteousness of our intentions,
For our inalienable rights as human beings,

And by the Authority of the indigenous people of Ogadenia, We declare the right to be a free and Independent State. The long history of suffering at the hands of the destructive and oppressive Ethiopian Government shall be abolished and all political connection exonerated.
The people, free and independent, shall institute a new Government to preserve and protect their rights to all acts entitled to Independent States and to effect their safety and happiness. The Democratic-Republic of Ogadenia shall establish peaceful relations with neighbor States and all nations. From this day forth, the people of Ogadenia shall no longer:

Be deprived of the right to trial by jury.
Have our homes looted,
Have our villages burnt.
Have our livestock slaughtered.
Our women raped.
Remain isolated from the world.
Will our boarders remain sealed from reporters, and economic trade.
Have humanitarian organizations exiled.
Suffer a manmade famine and a war against us.

No longer denied our inalienable rights as human beings and no longer suffer the longstanding, widespread reign of terror.

We, the Democratic-Republic of Ogadenia, therefore, declare that our Independence is recognized and that diplomatic relations be established with the United States of America as an ally against terror

Ogaden- If Bush Administration secured Peace in South Sudan why Obama Administration watches Ogaden Conflict?

2010-09-17T12:57:00.000-07:00

If Bush Administration secured Peace in South Sudan why Obama Administration watches Ogaden Conflict?

Ogaden was the epicenter of The Conflict between the Long rebellions freedom Fighters and occupied forces from the Ethiopian Kingdoms, the region was closed from the world, there had never been a free media base that tells the true stories of the ground, starting from the 19TH century the region was not politically and military stable.

There had been more than 10 time on military tension between the world powers over Ethiopia and Ogaden issue was the biggest issue on the matter, Ethiopia was playing its cards to gain the support of Ogaden conflict, Somali and Ethiopia fought over the Ogaden war in 1977, Soviet and its alliance supported Ethiopia Regime, the west always speaks on the lips claiming to maintain Human right and democracy but the people of the Ogaden region was at risk, killed, raped and massacred, the UN had never spoke on the matter of Ogaden abuses openly and investigate the accusations.

Mostly of the Ogaden people dismisses the United Nations and its endless ignoring the Ogaden Issue, people sees the UN as vanguard that keeps the interest of the specific nations and people, some of them believe that Ogaden is Gaza of Africa.

To come to the point Ogaden People are peace loving people but lack the justice, and order that need a long term solution, The West must give a chance to make a durable peace in Ogaden and end the long African conflict that lefts millions of Life.

Now Ogaden is between three line, death ,prison and Refugee, most youth are living in the refugee of the east Africa, Somalia, Kenya and Djibouti, some are killed and some are in prisons, while other are living on intimidations and fear. All these are caused the long term Conflict between ONLF, Ogaden National Liberation Front and Ethiopian Troops.

Ethiopian Troops trained financed and armed militia Named Liyuu Police, these militias have same similarities of the Janjiweed Malitia in Sudan, Durfur, they kill civilian, raped women and hangs men, the militia are founded in the 2005.
Human right Organizations and Aid called on the West particularly US and UK to investigate the matter of Ogaden region and the human right abuses that happened between 2006-2009, The UN must take step and must not to blind eye to the crisis looming on Ogaden.

To come to the Obama Administration, Obama has promised shifting the US policy towards Africa, in his Ghana speech, Obama lauded peace, democracy and justice in Africa, if that speech was true , Ogaden Region is first place need that solution.

The last US Administration solved the South Sudan Conflict, In 2001, pushed by an advocacy coalition led by U.S. evangelical and African-American churches, former President George W. Bush made bringing peace to the region a foreign policy priority. His administration helped secure a 2005 peace agreement, which established a power-sharing government that was supposed to lead Sudan from dictatorship to democracy.

Now Obama must lead Ethiopia into true democracy and bring both Ethiopia and ONLF leaders on the Table and they must come on each to compromise so as to reach the durable solution in Ogaden and whole in Ethiopia, if that happen, there would not be more worry about In Somalia extremist groups to come in Ethiopia, and risk will minimize. Ogaden people must asked what is their will, If they chose to be Ethiopians we must see, If they chose to be Free nation, with huge Gas and Oil producer, USA must open bases on Ogaden and find both the interest of the people in the region and its interest and national security. Ogaden and Ethiopia can be two peace nations sharing economic interest.

To be honest, the current peace claimed The Ethiopia and some Faction claiming ONLF is an endless road, the group is non-existence on the ground, they had no any relationship with ONLF army In Ogaden, the Group leader and some youth that he collected from the west are seen in Ogaden as hopeless and helpless in Ogaden. Salahadin Macow had been ousted ONLF central committee after when he was charged with corruption. ONLF military has only one Admstration led by Admiral Mohamed Omar Osman, Mahamed Ismail, Abdi Qadir Adani Hirmoge,Dhiirane, Abdi Rahman Mahdi and its central committee consist of 54 Members

ONE STAR.

2010-02-24T20:41:00.000-08:00

one Star!
Oh, Putland, Oh, Putland, bemused
I gape at the stars above you.
How dark it looks to see Somali’s lone star
disappearing from your sight!
I never thought I’d see the day,

“Farrole” poisoned the spirit of Mandeeq!
I never thought he’d crumble me into the ground to strip my Somalinis!
I never thought he’d send our brothers to harm’s way.
Now they are gone, I close my eyes and think of them, and how.

There was a time when I had doubt,

If he suffers from amnesia knowing I am his Somali brethren.
And what hurts the most is I now know how Tigray is his new kin and King.

I am left with emptiness but not defeat,
because, I am Somalia’s pride! Striving for the best!
We fought for the freedom you cherish in Putland.

A truth, Mr. Farrole will never know to admit.
And I will bear my guilt alone not knowing where
he’s left Somalia’s hero Sayid, and heroine Hawa Tako,

Perhaps they too had perished in his mist.
If he must know, we’ve been tested in ovens of hell
Dignified and certified our will equaling to gold and diamond!

Freedom from Woyane ascendancy is a must for us,
We pray as well your kinship with Tigray to
forever flourish until death does you a part.

Our enemies had purified enough of there hatred,
Ogaden star will shine,it was said that
Every dog has a day
written By ogadenian peotry
Sadiq Abdirahman

Silent Cry’ Victims of Ogaden Genocide

2010-02-16T14:54:00.000-08:00

British University students have uncovered the horrors of Ogaden, Africa, almost by accident. “Silent Cry” the grassroots documentary production by students Abdallah Abdi, Ahmed Abdalle, and Abdi-Shukri Omar shows a harrowing portrayal of the victims from the Ogaden region.

It was screened on the 6th of February at Melbourne University to a capacity crowd, making it the 26th city to view this first-hand account.

In 2007, the Ethiopian Army launched a military crackdown in Ogaden under its chairman Mohamed O. Osman. The main rebel group is the Ogaden National Liberation Front, which is fighting against the Ethiopian government.

Somalis who inhabit Ogaden have since claimed that the Ethiopian military kill civilians, commit crimes against the nomads in the region and destroy the livelihood of many of the ethnic Somalis. Ogaden is situated in the Somali region of Ethiopia and is currently subject to a total media blackout.

The students were seeking adventure in Africa when they met a taxi driver who described his horrific story in the hands of Ethiopian soldiers, where his son was burnt and killed and wife kidnapped and never seen again.

“It really shocked us…I was on my last year at university and now a whole lot of the team of ‘Silent Cry’ have completely given up everything in life because we believe this is a crime against humanity and we want to present this message to anyone and everyone in the world.” Said Abdi Shukri, the narrator and interviewer in the documentary.

Determined to find out the truth, the students ventured into the IFO refugee camp in Northern Kenya, where many have taken refuge from the conflict, although conditions are very basic and little support is given to these victims.

What follows in the documentary is traumatic, gritty and the style of production shows images repeated and choppy to give viewers the full effect of what the conditions the people in this refugee camp have had to endure.

A group of women, all of who were subjected to rape and torture by the regime, were willing to give their accounts, although it was clear how much pain this was causing.

One woman was repeatedly raped by nine soldiers and is now disabled because of this despicable act. Another woman opened up eventually to describe how she was forced to hang her own child. The students were so affected by this particular story, they were originally planning to name the film “Hang your Child” but thought this may be too strong for audiences so instead decided to name it “Silent Cry.”

The child victims were a focal point throughout the documentary. These parts of the film were possibly the most distressing. Tiny legs burnt, little faces scarred from fire and countless orphans wandering around without any supervision were all vividly captured in the film. It was too much to handle at some points with the images firmly planted long after the film finished.

The amateur film-makers have taken this documentary to over 26 cities in europe and the U.S in the past few months and are continuing their travels. Originally, Channel 4 in the UK offered them 13,000 pounds (Roughly 20,000 Australian dollars) for their footage, but they turned it down, fearful that it would be edited incorrectly. They instead edited the film themselves.

When asked how they fund their cause, it truly shows the grassroots nature of the project . They have raised money from student donations, selling t-shirts, badges and wristbands and are driven by a passion and extreme determination to expose the genocide that is happening in Ogaden

Ethiopia Shakes Down Its Minnesota Refugees

2010-01-18T02:32:00.000-08:00

MINNEAPOLIS–Immigrants to Minnesota from eastern Ethiopia are being forced to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to support an Ethiopian security force that tortures and kills thousands of its own innocent people.

Under an extortion scheme run by the Ethiopian army, soldiers in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia abduct men, women and teenage boys and girls, holding them without charge in one of scores of military jails in the region, which borders Somalia.

Knowing that many Ogaden families have relatives who live in Minnesota, the Ethiopian army tells the prisoners’ families that their loved ones can be freed upon payment of ransoms ranging from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands of dollars.

Hating to pay the money but having no other choice, the Minnesota refugees empty their personal bank accounts and pass the hat to raise ransoms to release their husbands, wives, sons, daughters and friends from overcrowded jails where torture, rape, beatings and killings are common.
Destruction of Villages

“It is a booming business for the Ethiopian army,” said Mohamed, a Minnesota school teacher who immigrated from the Ogaden in 1993. “It happens every day in the Ogaden, and every day someone in Minnesota is sending money.”

Mohamed and other Ogaden immigrants quoted in this story declined to give their full names for fear that their family and friends living in the Ogaden would be jailed, tortured or killed in retribution for their openness.

In recent years, one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises has unfolded silently in the Ogaden region, where a vicious counter-insurgency campaign by the Ethiopian government has wiped out scores of villages, killed thousands of civilians and displaced tens of thousands or more to refugee camps in Ethiopia and northern Kenya.

About 5,000 Ogaden refugees have found their way to Minnesota, which has one of the largest refugee populations from the Ogaden crisis in the world. The Ogaden refugees in Minnesota are settled mainly in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Willmar, St. Cloud and Faribault.

Frantic Calls

The ransoming of Ogaden refugees in Minnesota is exacting a disastrous economic, psychological and social toll within the Ogaden community and the broader society, Ogaden immigrants here say.

“I cry every night, believe me,” said Abdi, an Ogaden refugee who has sent $600 ransoms on two occasions. “You are forced to do what is not right, you are forced to do the wrong thing. It’s horrible. It lives with us, it lives with us everywhere. No matter where I am, in the bedroom, in the bathroom, in the living room, I cannot hold back my tears.”

Being forced to spend thousands of dollars to free their relatives from jail in Ethiopia slows down the Minnesota Ogadeni refugees’ attempts to learn English, to get an education and to successfully assimilate into U.S. society, they say.

“We get frantic phone calls day and night,” says Mustafe, an Ogaden refugee who works at Minneapolis employment agency. “Friends and family need money to be freed from jail. They say, ‘Please send us money, please send us money!’ We send it, of course, but as a result we go into debt ourselves. I don’t even dream of going back to school to improve myself until the situation in Ogaden changes and improves.”

Financial Aid

In 2007, Mustafe sent $1,500 towards a $4,000 ransom collected in Minnesota to release a teenaged cousin who was jailed for three months and was released after the ransom was paid. As a result of that and other ransoms Mustafe has paid, plus monthly support he sends back home to relatives, he is about $10,000 in debt.

The ransoming of Ogaden refugees is only one facet of an extreme humanitarian crisis involving countless crimes against humanity bordering on a full-scale genocide that has been building in the Ogaden for more than a decade but intensified sharply in 2007.

The roots of the crisis lie in the fact that eastern Ethiopia is inhabited by ethnic Muslim Somalis at a time when the Ethiopian government has been waging war against Somalia. In December 2006, with financial aid and military training from the U.S., Ethiopia crushed the Islamic Courts Union, an Islamist government that controlled Somalia.

In 2007, the Ethiopia-Somalia war intensified in Ogaden, where the Ethiopian Army launched an all-out counter-insurgency against a separatist militia, the Ogaden National Liberation Front, which it calls a terrorist organization.

Collective Punishment

The ONLF conducts deadly raids against Ethiopian military, such as an April 2007 attack against a Chinese-run oil operation in the Ogaden which killed not only Ethiopian soldiers but several dozen Ethiopian citizens and nine Chinese nationals.

In retaliation for that attack, Meles Zenawi, the Ethiopian Prime Minister, launched a vicious crackdown on the ONLF, targeting not only ONLF fighters but their families, friends and other supporters throughout the region. In 2008, Human Rights Watch published a report, “Collective Punishment: War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity in the Ogaden area of Ethiopia’s Somali Region.”

The report documented hundreds of cases of torture, rape, executions and indeed the destruction of entire Ogaden villages on the mere suspicion that someone in the village was harboring an ONLF fighter. Human Rights Watch said the likely scale of the disaster was far larger than they were able to document in the report.

Since 2007 all foreign journalists and many aid organizations, including the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders, have been forced to suspend operations in the Ogaden.

Virtually all of the ransoms paid by Minnesota Ogadeni refugees to the Ethiopian military are to release friends and relatives who have been jailed on suspicion of knowing, sheltering, or aiding ONLF fighters.

Clan Elders

But in a region like Ogaden, where almost every village has at least one son or daughter who has joined the ONLF, to declare war on all people with even a slight relationship the ONLF is tantamount to declaring war on the entire Ogadeni people—on their society and culture. From an Ogadeni perspective, that has happened.

In Minneapolis over the past two weeks, I interviewed 18 Ogaden refugees. Every one confirmed knowledge of the frequent payment of ransoms by Minnesota Ogadenis to free imprisoned relatives held by the Ethiopian army in the Ogaden.

About half of the refugees I interviewed said they had personally paid ransoms to free relatives from jail, and some had done so many times.

The ransom amounts ranged from $300 to $1,500. In some cases those amounts were contributions to total collected ransoms of more than $10,000, which seems to be a typical amount needed to release Ogadeni clan elders who are held.

Here are four ransom stories I was told:

Abdi #1: “In 2002, in the city of Harare, Ethiopian soldiers arrested my brother and beat him badly, tying a rope at the top of his elbows. For five nights they beat him. My Dad had to pay money to get him loose. He came back with marks on his arms above his elbows. Another time, my brother-in-law was arrested. On two occasions, his relatives called me in Minnesota to say he is alive in prison and asked us here to send money. So on two occasions since 2002 we sent $600, but my brother-in-law was never released and we still don’t know if he is alive or dead.”
Mustafe: “In 2007, my brother, who was in high school, was arrested and put in jail. They accused him of being a collaborator of the ONLF. They said he was buying khat [a chewed leaf that is a legal stimulant in Ethiopia and a major cash crop there] to give to the ONLF. But he was only a student with no money and he never did that. We collected $4,000 here in Minnesota to release him, which they finally did after three months.”
Mohamed: “In 2005, they put my brother in jail. He is a tea shop owner and the Ethiopian army said he sold some food to the ONLF. My brother’s wife and cousins sold their sheep and goats to get the ransom money and he was released, but five months later they put him back in jail. This time, his wife called me and said, “Mohamed, our sheep and goats are very thin and weak, it’s the dry season, and none of them can be sold. We need money. They will kill your brother if we don’t pay.” So I sent what I could afford, which was $700. Again he was released, but today, only a few hours ago, I got the bad news from my village that my brother and two others were taken by the Ethiopian army and no one knows their fate. So again I don’t know if my brother and the others are okay or if they are killed. If they aren’t killed, I will once again have to pay ransom, for the third time. They said my brother is a sympathizer of the ONLF, but he is only a tea shop owner. How can he discriminate if a customer who comes in is ONLF? They don’t wear any uniform, how can he tell?”
Abdi #2: “My friend and cousin is named Hassan Ahmed, from the town of Jijiga. Last year he was jailed and sentenced to death for supposedly helping the ONLF. But he has asthma and was seriously sick and he needed to go to the hospital. So his mother called me here in Minnesota and said, “If we pay $500 they say they will take him to the hospital.” So we managed to raise $500, which we sent to the family, and they gave it to the Ethiopian army. But he was never let out of prison and we don’t think he was taken to the hospital either. Instead, after they got the money they said, “This guy is sentenced to death, he will never get out.”
Cell Phones

Mohamed, the Ogaden school teacher, has collected records of 182 separate instances of extortion and ransoming of Ogadeni civilians by the Ethiopian Army. The total amount paid in these cases was $84,500, which Mohamed estimates is less than 1% of the total amount of money extorted and ransomed by the Ethiopian Army in the past two years.

“You cannot imagine how widespread this is,” said Mohamed, who collected the data through cell phone calls to contacts in the Ogaden and the global Ogaden diaspora.

As a result of the humanitarian aid and information blackout imposed by Ethiopia on the Ogaden, accounts given by the Ogaden refugees in Minnesota provide one of the richest sources of information about the crisis there.

Money, Army or Jail

Ogadeni shopkeepers and traders are also frequent targets for Ethiopian army threats and shakedowns, Minnesota’s Ogaden refugees say.

“In the town of Gode,” said Mohamed, “the Army just last week gathered more than 100 business people recently and told them, “You have three choices: you can give us money, you can join the army, or you can go to jail.”

Copenhagen, Climate Change, China, and Ogaden

2009-12-20T02:12:00.000-08:00

O g a d e n

Ogaden is a first example. A sizeable territory (280000 km2) where 6 millions of Somalis have been engulfed, imprisoned and persecuted in all possible manners because of the ominous English colonialism that ended up in ulcerous anti-Somali racism and vicious political practices. In fact, the entire territory of Ogaden became a gift offered to the bloodthirsty and barbaric Amhara Abyssinian despot, Haile Selassie, because of his siding with England in the East Africa colonial game.

With rich soil, great natural resources, and a well educated Ogadeni Diaspora, an independent Ogaden Republic will be China´s key economic and political partner, and more importantly, it will be a partner deprived of tergiversations and hesitations. The brave people of Ogaden, the active Ogadeni Diaspora, and the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) are the key for China´s need for peace and national unity in Somalia.

China´s accurate understanding of the Asiatic landmass geopolitical games of England and America must help in shaping China´s new African policy. Afghanistan is a matter of concern for China´s national security. The US-led foreign armies in Afghanistan created a havoc after eight (8) years of inexplicably unending and truly speaking fake war against phantasms of extremism. What brought these armies there? This is known: September 11th. An event that more and more people allover the world refuse to take at face value and consider merely as a scheme of the US militaristic establishment.

Another September 11th may happen at any time. Those who expect it grow more numerous day by day. It can be possibly attributed to the Shabaab of Somalia who control the southern parts of Somalia, having got great help in terms of logistics from the US and their puppet, the tyrannical Kikuyu regime of Nairobi.

Another September 11th would be an excellent pretext for the US forces to occupy on permanent basis part of the geo-strategically very important territory of Somalia. Such a development would not only herald the beginning of the end of China´s penetration in Africa. It would also herald doubts about the possibility of China to effectively defend its national territory from nuclear attacks.

I will expand on this subject in several forthcoming articles but here I merely add two reports on recent demonstrations organized by the Ogadeni Diaspora in Copenhagen.

Members of the Danish Ogaden Community Demonstrate Outside the UN Climate Change Conference

Copenhagen, Denmark – December 17. Protestors from Denmark's Ogaden Community demonstrate outside the UN climate change conference on December 17, 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The group were demonstrating against Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi participating in the COP15 United Nations Climate Change Conference, claiming that he has one of the worst environmental records in the history of Ethiopia and that he has no respect for fundamental human rights.

Members of the European Ogaden Community Demonstrate Against Meles Zenawi

Dozens of Ogaden and Oromo communities in Europe demonstrated outside the UN climate change conference on December 17-18, 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The group were demonstrating against Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi participating in the COP15 United Nations Climate Change Conference. Meles Zenawi is one of the worst environmental records in the history of Ethiopia and that he has no respect for fundamental human rights.

Waving the Ogaden National flag, the protestors chanted Meles belongs at the Hague for trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) instead of being honored as a spokesman for all African nations at the global conference this week. Members of the Ogaden community accused Meles Zenawi of committing genocide in the Ogaden.

Many African countries seek financial compensation for the continent in order to combat climate change. Recently, some African groups opposed a deal between Meles and European leaders.

The Ogaden people are fighting for self-determination. Extra-judicial killings, rape, disappearances, destruction of livelihood and the displacement of thousands of Ogaden people are the daily norm in Ogaden.

There is constant fighting between Ethiopian troops and ONLF forces in the Ogaden region. Human rights organizations accuse the Ethiopian soldiers of violating the human rights by harassing the people in the Ogaden region.

author by Dr mohamed shamsidiin "nafti hure"...

Who are Ethiopia's ONLF rebels?

2009-12-12T01:08:00.000-08:00

Dec 11 (Reuters) - Ethiopia's Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) launched attacks on government positions last month and are warning international oil companies not to explore for their region's potential deposits.

Here are some key facts about the ONLF:

* The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) is the most active of the country's rebel groups. It was formed in 1984 amid a resurgence of separatist sentiment in the Ogaden region, which is near Ethiopia's border with Somalia.

* In April 2007 the rebels attacked an oilfield run by Sinopec, Asia's biggest refiner and China's second largest oil and gas producer. Sinopec then pulled out of the Ogaden. Most of Ethiopia's oil and gas exploration activities have centred on the vast desert province. The rebels want firms to stay away.

* Ethiopia's Somali region, of which the Ogaden is a part, is mainly populated by Muslim Somali-speakers. The area has its own identity, doing most of its trade with Somaliland, Somalia and the Middle East, rather than the rest of Ethiopia.

* The ONLF dominated the Somalia region's government from 1991 until 1994. But the regional parliament passed a resolution in 1994 to hold a referendum on independence for the Ogaden and was then dissolved by the government.

* The group says its goal remains a referendum on independence for the region.

* The rebels have employed a strategy of hit-and-run attacks, often using grenades and landmines before melting back into the region's largely nomadic population.

* The Ethiopian government says the ONLF is trained and funded by Horn of Africa rival Eritrea in an effort to destabilize Ethiopia. Regional analysts agree

Mahdi, who rarely speaks to the media, told Reuters the rebels wanted a referendum on independence for the region's Muslim, ethnic Somali people. And he dismissed claims the ONLF was helping Somalia's Islamist al Shabaab rebels, who are waging a violent war against that country's U.N.-backed government.

"The ONLF, as a matter of policy and principle, does not and will not collaborate with extremist organisations," he said. "This is a struggle for self-determination."

Analysts say that, along with its potential mineral wealth, the desert region's location between Somalia and Addis Ababa makes the Ethiopian government determined to hold on to it after a long history of hostilities with its neighbour.

The government says the ONLF has no popular support and is funded by rival Eritrea in an attempt to destabilise Ethiopia.

Bereket Simon, the Ethiopian government's head of information, told Reuters the rebels had regrouped since 2007, but called November's attacks a "last desperate act".

Locals said the rebels were believed to be planning more assaults.

The rebels and the government routinely accuse each other of terrorising the local population, burning villages and murdering and raping civilians.

The ONLF accuses government forces of stopping food aid and commercial supplies from reaching their strongholds, putting thousands of drought-affliced civilians at risk of starvation.

Ambassador Cousin's visit was carefully managed by the United Nations and the Ethiopian government. Her convoy rarely left main roads, and she said saw no evidence of the ONLF charges.

THE BEST FOUR INTERNATIONAL JOURNALS REPORTED THE VICTORY OF ONLF

2009-11-15T01:29:00.000-08:00

Wareegay Hadaba Dhamaan Warkaas ka Akhriso Gudaha.
Ethiopia rebels claim massive counter-offensive
(AFP) – 3 hours ago

ADDIS ABABA — Ethiopian rebels have launched a wide offensive in the southeastern Somali ethnic Ogaden region and recaptured seven towns from government forces, they claimed Saturday in a statement.

The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) said in a statement received by AFP that it had launched a broad offensive on several fronts on November 10.

"The operation involved thousands of ONLF troops and resulted in two days of heavy fighting. A significant number of Ethiopian troops have been killed and their military hardware captured or destroyed," it said.

The ONLF said its forces entered the towns of Obolka, Hamaro, Higlaaley, Yucub, Galadiid, Boodhaano and Gunogabo, where government forces had deployed troops and positioned military hardware.

"ONLF forces were warmly welcomed by the population in these areas and are administering medical care to those civilians killed by retreating Ethiopian occupation forces," the statement said.

Formed in 1984, the ONLF is fighting for the independence of ethnic Somalis in Ethiopia's oil-rich Ogaden region, who they say have been marginalised by Addis Ababa.

The Ethiopian military launched an offensive against ONLF rebels after they attacked a Chinese-run oil venture in Ogaden in April 2007, killing 74 people.

In April, Ethiopia said it had significantly weakened the rebels, a claim the insurgents dismissed

Aljazeera Africa: Ogaden: Seven Ethiopian towns taken

Somali Ogaden fighters formed the ONLF in 1984 and have attacked government forces regularly

Ethnic Ogaden fighters in Ethiopia have launched an offensive in the southeastern Somali region and claim to have recaptured seven towns from government forces.

In a statement released early on Saturday, the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) said its attacks were launched across a broad front and had begun on November 10.

"The operation involved thousands of ONLF troops and resulted in two days of heavy fighting. A significant number of Ethiopian troops have been killed and their military hardware captured or destroyed," it said.

The ONLF said its forces entered the towns of Obolka, Hamaro, Higlaaley, Yucub, Galadiid, Boodhaano and Gunogabo - where government forces had deployed troops and positioned military hardware.

"ONLF forces were warmly welcomed by the population in these areas and are administering medical care to those civilians killed by retreating Ethiopian occupation forces," the statement claimed.

The Ethiopian government has not responded to the statement.

Formed in 1984, the ONLF is fighting for the independence of ethnic Somalis in Ethiopia's oil-rich Ogaden region - which they say has been marginalised by the government in Addis Ababa.

The Ethiopian military launched a counter-offensive against ONLF rebels after they attacked a Chinese-run oil venture in Ogaden in April 2007, killing 74 people.

In April, Ethiopia said it had significantly weakened the the anti-government force, a claim ONLF rejects.

BBCEthiopia rebels 'capture towns'

Ethnic-Somali rebels in the south-east of Ethiopia say they have launched an offensive against government forces and captured several towns.

The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) said it began attacking on several fronts on Tuesday.

The separatists said a "significant number" of Ethiopian troops had been killed and their equipment captured.

The reports could not be verified and Ethiopia has in the past dismissed rebel accounts of military gains.

"The operation involved thousands of ONLF troops and resulted in two days of heavy fighting," an ONLF statement said.

The group added that its forces had been "warmly welcomed" in the towns it claimed to have captured - Obolka, Hamaro, Higlaaley, Yucub, Galadiid, Boodhaano and Gunogabo.

The ONLF, formed in 1984, is fighting for the independence of ethnic Somalis in the oil-rich Ogaden region.

It says the Somali-speaking population has been marginalised by Addis Ababa.

Fighting has escalated over the past two years following an ONLF attack on a Chinese-run oil exploration field.

More than 70 people died in the attack, including Ethiopian guards and Chinese workers.

Addis Ababa calls the rebels "terrorists" and has cut off all access to the region.

However, watchdogs have accused the Ethiopian government of human rights violations.

Ethiopia's ONLF rebels say captured seven towns

* ONLF say seven towns captured

* Government says rebels defeated

* Region with oil and gas potential

By Barry Malone

ADDIS ABABA, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Ethiopian rebels fighting for independence for a region with potentially significant oil and gas reserves said on Saturday they had captured seven towns near the border with neighbouring Somalia.

The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) wants autonomy for the Ogaden region, whose population is ethnic Somali. The area is drawing interest from foreign oil and gas companies who think its deserts might be rich in mineral deposits.

"The operation ... to capture Obolka, Hamaro, Higlaaley, Yucub, Galadiid, Boodhaano and Gunogabo involved thousands of ONLF troops and resulted in two days of heavy fighting," the rebels said in a statement.

"A significant number of Ethiopian troops have been killed and their military hardware captured or destroyed."

Ethiopian government officials were unavailable for comment, but they routinely deny ONLF statements and say the rebels have been defeated.

Addis Ababa says the ONLF are "terrorists" supported by regional rival Eritrea. The ONLF accuses the Ethiopian military of killing and raping civilians and burning villages in the region as part of its effort to root out insurgents.

The regular accusations from both sides are impossible to verify. Journalists and aid groups cannot move freely in the area without government escorts.

The ONLF statement said its fighters had been "warmly welcomed" by residents in the seven towns and were giving treatment to civilians hurt in the fighting.

The Ogaden region is said to contain mineral deposits and international firms including Brazil's Petronas and Sweden's Lundin are exploring its deserts for oil. The ONLF regularly warns foreign companies against prospecting.

Ethiopian forces launched an assault against the rebels -- who have been fighting for more than 20 years -- after a 2007 attack on an oil exploration field owned by a subsidiary of Sinopec, China's biggest refiner and petrochemicals producer.

The separatist cause has gained momentum due to a low level of development. Until Chinese engineers arrived in the remote region in 2007, the entire area had only 30 km (20 miles) of tarmac road in an area of about 200,000 sq km. (Editing by Charles Dick)

Asharq Al-Awsat Talks to ONLF Leader, Admiral Mohamed Omar Osman

2009-11-02T10:17:00.000-08:00

Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), one of the most prominent armed groups that are opposed to the Ethiopian Government, believes that the issue of the Ogaden region is a forgotten Arab-Islamic cause, on the basis that the region, which Ethiopia considers its "fifth province", is an occupied Somali land. He says it is one of the last occupied Arab territories in the 21st century.

Osman defends the use of the name Ogaden for its historical significance, which is also the name of a tribe that resides in the region. The region's other name is Western Somalia, which the former Somali government preferred. In Addis Ababa, it is also called Ethiopia's fifth province.

Osman denied that his party receives aid from oil-rich Arab states to prevent Ethiopia from drilling for oil and gas in the Ogaden region.

He calls for holding a referendum in the region to determine its future.

Osman says that his front effectively governs 90 percent of the desert areas and rural villages in the region. As for the cities, he says, the Ethiopian Army governs them during daytime and the front at night.

Commenting on his relationship with the current Somali Government, he said they exchange views. With regard to his relationship with the Somali groups that are fighting against the Mogadishu government -- the Youth Movement and the Islamic Party --he said: "If these groups are fighting against Ethiopia, we have a common enemy. However, there is no political coordination between them and us."

[Asharq Al-Awsat] When was the ONLF founded, and what are the goals for which it is fighting?

[Osman] The ONLF was founded in 1984, but began armed action 10 years later, in 1994, after the ruling party in Ethiopia reneged on its promises to the political parties and to the peoples of Ethiopia and revoked an agreement to resolve the Ogaden issue in a peaceful way. The front's goal is to liberate this region from the Ethiopian occupation.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] What is the difference between the ONLF and other Somali fronts that existed in the region before?

[Osman] With regard to the primary goal of liberating the region, it does not differ from other fronts. However, it differs from them in the administrative aspect. The Western Somalia Liberation Front enjoyed support from the Somali government, which used to interfere in its administration, policies, and decisions. As for the ONLF, it is independent from any Somali government and relies only on the people's support.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] What are the political and military conditions in the Ogaden Region?

[Osman] First of all, the region is in a state of war to liberate it from the Ethiopian occupation. Our struggle has achieved important successes, and our friends are increasing every day. There is a great conviction of the legitimacy of our struggle and of our right to self-determination.

The Ethiopian Army is in a very bad psychological state as a result of our continuous attacks on it, and the number of deserters is on the increase.

In addition, the Ethiopian regime commits atrocities against the people in the Ogaden Region, which has been under siege for three years now. This siege prevented international organizations from entering the region. The aim behind the siege is to hide from the world the acts of killing and rape that take place in the region. The more losses they suffer in military confrontations with us, the more they take revenge against the defenseless people. We call for bringing the Ethiopian regime to account for these heinous crimes.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] The name Ogaden continues to cause controversy in the region because it is the name of the tribe to which it belongs. Why do you insist on this name? Does this mean a firm adherence to your tribe, Ogaden?

[Osman] This is the internationally recognized name, which is shown on world maps. The Front sees no use in creating a new name for the region and then introducing it to the world anew. The former Somali government called the region Western Somalia, but few people in the region know this name, and it has not been introduced on the world map.

The former Ethiopian government of Mengistu Haile Mariam gave the region another name, and so did the current government, which is led by Meles Zenawi (the fifth province of Ethiopia). No one knows all of this. Nevertheless, we might hold consultations to change the name when the region has been liberated. If we change the name Ogaden Before this happens, we will only confuse the people and the world.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] There are accusations against the front. You are accused of fighting a proxy war against Ethiopia for Eritrea. What is your response to these accusations?

[Osman] The Ogaden Region and Eritrea were under Ethiopian occupation, and we began the war before Eritrea was liberated and also before the Eritrean-Ethiopian conflict. There is no connection between this conflict and the ONLF struggle. Regardless of whether this conflict continues or not, we will continue the war of liberation until we secure our rights.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] Is the ONLF a secular, Islamic, or tribal organization?

[Osman] To begin with, we are Muslims. Besides, the people for the liberation of whom we are struggling is a Muslim people, and the front is a liberation organization that seeks to end the Ethiopian occupation.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] Do you believe that Ogaden is an Ethiopian or Somali region or what?

[Osman] Currently, Ogaden is a region occupied by Ethiopia. Ethiopia calls it the fifth province of Ethiopia, where Somalis live. But it is the Somali people in the region who will have the final say in this matter. We call for holding a free referendum. When this question is put to them, everything will be settled.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] What was the effect of the situation in Somalia and collapse of the Somali state on the ONLF? How can you continue the war without having a supportive strategic reserve, represented by the neighboring states?

[Osman] All the problems that happen in Somalia have a great effect on us, and it would be good if there was a Somali state not controlled by Ethiopia. In spite of this, however, the struggle will continue through the available means.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] Are you willing to negotiate with the Ethiopian Government, and what are your conditions?

[Osman] Yes, we are willing to negotiate with the Ethiopian Government. The choice of war was not ours in the beginning. It was imposed on us. We negotiated with the Ethiopian Government in the past, but the dialogue did not succeed. We are still ready for the option of negotiations, and our only condition is that the negotiations take place in the presence of a neutral third party and in a neutral place.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] It is said that there are disagreements within the ONLF and that there are conflicting wings within the front. What is the true situation?

[Osman] This information is untrue, and those who promote it like that to happen.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] What is the weight of the Ogaden Region in Ethiopia in terms of its area, population, and economic resources?

[Osman] The area of the Ogaden Region is 400,000 square km (in other words, one-third of the total area of Ethiopia, which is 1.1 million square km). Ogaden comes second after the Oromia Province, the largest Ethiopian province.

As for the population, the Somali people in the region number approximately eight million. They represent the third ethnic group after the Oromo and Amhara ethnic groups.

With regard to the economy, the region is famous for its natural resources, including oil and gas. In addition, it enjoys water and agricultural resources and a huge animal wealth. Yet, there are no development programs in the region because of the occupation and the ongoing war. Also, there are no noticeable schools. Moreover, there are no hospitals in the region, and the infrastructure is almost non-existent because of the occupation and its consequences.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] You sent a warning a while ago to companies that drill for oil and gas in the Ogaden Region. What was the reason for this warning? At the time, it was reported that you asked for a bribe to allow these companies to operate.

[Osman] Yes, we warned the oil and gas-prospecting companies against operating in the region for a simple reason. The reason is that we are under occupation and will not allow these natural resources in the region to be used before the occupation ends. If the occupation authorities exploit these resources, they will not use them to develop the region. Rather, they will use them to destroy the region and repress the people.

We do not seek a bribe from the prospecting companies, and I believe that they would welcome us if we asked for a bribe. We arrested a number of these companies' employees and released them after telling them that they are not welcome in the region in these current circumstances.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] There are reports indicating that some Arab states support the ONLF to prevent the production of oil and gas in the region, so that Ethiopia would not become a source for the supply of oil and gas in the region.

[Osman] This information is new to me, and I have not heard it before. This information is untrue at all.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] what is the relationship between the ONLF and the Somali Islamic movements, such as the Youth Movement and the Islamic Party?

[Osman] If these groups are fighting against Ethiopia, then we have a common enemy. However, there is no political coordination between them and us.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] Are there areas in the Ogaden Region that are governed by your armed front?

[Osman] The ONLF effectively governs most of the desert areas and rural villages. It governs about 90 percent of these areas. As for the cities, the Ethiopian occupation Army governs them during daytime, and we govern them at night.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] Most of the ONLF leaders are based abroad. What is the reason?

[Osman] Some of the leaders are based abroad, and this is very important. Yet, they travel in and out of the region. There are enough leaders inside the region. I was personally in the Ogaden Region where I spent the past eight months, alongside other leaders. Also, we are able to reach all parts of the region and leave them safely anytime we want.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] As leader of the ONLF, do you consider yourself an Ethiopian citizen, a Somali citizen, or a citizen of another nationality?

[Osman] I do not want to answer this question at present.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] What is the connection between the ONLF and your tribe, Ogaden, and between the ONLF and other tribes in the region? It has been said that most of the front's leaders belong to your tribe, Ogaden.

[Osman] I do not wish to enter into such labyrinths. Tribalism is not among the principles of the ONLF. Tribalism is the disease that destroyed the Somalis everywhere. Had we depended on tribalism, the front would have collapsed long ago, because tribalism is like an onionskin that has no end.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] How do you see the future of the Ogaden Region? Will it remain as an Ethiopian region or will it become a Somali region, or a region representing an independent state?

[Osman] Our main demand is to hold a referendum for the Somali people in the region to enable them to determine their future by themselves and decide whether they want to remain part of the state of Ethiopia, vote for an independent state, or join another country. The decision should be up to the people alone. We also demand that they be allowed to exercise their right to self-determination.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] What is the connection between the ONLF and other Somali parties, the transitional Somali Government, Puntland, and the Somaliland?

[Osman] As is known, the Somali Government is new, and there are some contacts between us to exchange views. However, there is no large relationship between us. As for the Puntland Region (northeastern Somalia) and the Somaliland (the north), they cooperate against us and with the Ethiopian authorities outright. Therefore, these two regions represent a big problem to the ONLF-led struggle.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] Is the Ogaden issue a national Somali cause or an Arab and Islamic one?

[Osman] It is all of them. It belongs to the Somalis and it is an Arab-Islamic cause because the Ogaden people are an Arab Muslim people. Some quarters might not be interested in this issue. However, we assert the Arab and Islamic character of the Ogaden issue. Ogaden also represents one of the Arab territories that labor under occupation in the 21st century.

Admiral Mohamed Omar Osman in brief:

Admiral Mohamed Omar Osman, leader of the ONLF, was born in the Ogaden Region in Ethiopia in1940 and received his basic education in that region. Afterward, he moved to Mogadishu where he received the secondary-stage education.

He was sent on a course to Egypt where he graduated from the Cairo-based War College. Then he traveled to the Soviet Union to complete his military study.

He was appointed as member of the central committee of the ruling Somali Socialist Party in the middle of the 70s, then chief of the party's political bureau .Afterward, he was appointed as commander of the Somali naval forces and promoted to the rank of admiral.

After the collapse of the central government in Somalia in 1991, he returned to the Ogaden Region and was chosen in 1998 as leader of the ONLF, a position that he has held to date. He travels between Ethiopia, the neighboring states, and Europe.

WHO SAID THERE IS NO GENOCIDE IN OGADEN?‏

2009-09-21T08:33:00.000-07:00

Ogaden Human Rights Group, O.H.R.G.
Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) and civilian militia groups target Ogaden civilians. Extra-judicial killings, rape, disappearances, destruction of livelihood and the displacement of thousands of Ogaden people continue. “Justice delayed is justice denied.”
Page 2 of 25
A WAR CRIME COMMITTED BY ETHIOPIAN MILITARY The legal definition of GENOCIDE: The international legal definition of the crime of genocide is found in Articles II and III of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide. Article II describes the two elements that constitute the crime of genocide: 1. The mental element, meaning the "intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such", and 2. The physical element, which includes five types of violence described in sections [a] through [e] as follows: [a]Killing members of the group; [b] Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; [c] Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; [d] Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [e] Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
• GENOCIDE is taking place in OGADEN: The intent of the Ethiopian government to destroy, in whole or in part of Somali ethnic communities in Ogaden region is clear from evidence as reported by Human Rights Watch. Moreover, international legal precedent holds that genocidal intent can be inferred from the context of the perpetration of culpable acts when they are systematically directed against a group. Finally, there is the testimony of survivors of genocide in Ogaden that often the perpetrators of the atrocities clearly stated their intentions to destroy these groups.
• In Ogaden during the past two years, the physical acts of violence have been systematically directed against the targeted groups and have included all five types listed in the convention and has resulted in the deaths of nearly half a million people:
• [a] Thousands people have been killed by government forces; [b] bodily and mental harm to thousands of women and young girls raped by soldiers; [c] the destruction of homes, crops, water resources and the physical displacement of thousands people now in Somalia, Kenya, Eritrea, Yemen, and Djibouti. Similarly, more than half million internally displaced who dispersed inside the Ogaden to save their live. These have resulted in conditions designed to bring about their destruction through famine and disease epidemics and has already claimed thousands of lives; [d] the killing of pregnant women; and [e] the use of rape as a weapon of genocide. This genocide has largely been carried out under a cloak of silence, as the Ethiopian government barred entry to the region to journalists, human rights groups, and humanitarian aid groups for more than one year and continues to severely restrict access.
Page 3 of 25
• “From the viewpoint of criminal law, what matters is not the motive, but rather whether or not there exists the requisite special intent to destroy a group [as defined by the terms of the 1948 Genocide Convention].” (Para. 493)
Massive human rights violations committed in the region include: extra-judicial executions, unlawful killings of civilians, torture, rapes, abductions, destruction of villages and property, looting of cattle and property, the destruction of the means of livelihood of the population attacked and forced displacement. These human rights violations have been committed in a systematic manner by the Ethiopian Federal Army. Many of the crimes committed in Ogaden constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity. There are evidences with reliable information pointing at the responsibility of the Ethiopian government in the human rights violations committed in Ogaden. In addition to the military and logistical support and the impunity that it provides to the Federal Army of Ethiopia, the Ethiopian government has used a policy of repression to deal with the Ogaden region problems. It has engaged in arbitrary arrests, incommunicado detentions, "disappearances," rape, economic blockade, torching homes and villages, and torture in order to punish people suspected of ONLF supporters, families accused their sons and daughters joined rebel movement, leaders and members of communities in Ogaden. IMMGAES OF RECENTLY TORTURED AND RAPED VICTIMS IN OGADEN “Tales of rape and murder from refugees fleeing Ethiopia's Ogaden region offer a glimpse of the violence wracking the hermetic rebel zone, off limits now even to foreign aid groups. "It's worse than hell, what is happening in Ethiopia," said Fardosa, whose eyes seem to have frozen wide open since her own ordeal. "A group of Ethiopians came to my house in early August and four soldiers took me into my bedroom and assaulted me," said the thin young woman, cradling a nine-month-old baby.” Ethiopia’s isolated Ogaden: refugees tell tale of repression Ethiopia's isolated Ogaden: refugees tell tale of repression, BOSASO, Somalia (AFP

Poem in living Memory of Dr Dolaal

2009-06-14T22:02:00.001-07:00

Dearest Brothers ONLF,
I really felt my heart broken. I know Dr Dolaal very well and had several discusions, various communications, telphone chats about the plights of our nations. His loss remains immessurable and his legacy lives with us forever. We raise his anthem and slogan untill we see our nations liberated.

Poem in living Memory of Dr Dolaal
By Kambata Xoola, Sidama National

O!! Ogadenia, O!! Ogadenia the land of heroes,
You’re dynamic land -whose people’s heroism,
Draws the attention of the global nations,
Whose resistance shaken barbaric Abyssinians,
Please listen to me your ears wide open!!

Tell me what tragedy has unfolded,
Explain to me why bad news has been rumoured,
Don’t hid from me if you have explanation,
Tell me why you have allowed this to happen,
To your ultimate hero a pride to his nation!!

O!! you hero; an icon of freedom struggle,
Whose principle was indefatigable,
Whose intellect was formidable,
Whose purpose was liberating its people,
You ultimate hero Ogaden Somali Dolaal,
Your enthusiasm was eternal and
remains between us active and alive!!

Though why, let me ask you why you hero?
Why death for you before you see your peoples freedom?
Why eternal rest for you before you achieve you Objectives?
Why death for you who’s inspiration to all?
Why have you decided to remain silent
While your people needs you more?
Why did you allow your enemies to rejoice?
Why didn’t say ‘no’ to the death angels?
Why did you make us feel in the middle of desert?
Why did you go away bearing the burden of the nation
at this needy time?

I know your indefatigability and heroism
I know your unshakable believe in your people’s liberty
That doesn’t surrender to defeatism!!

Yes, you have dreamt day and night seeing your people free
You have envisaged this in your decry
Yet you given-in before that all,
My heart goes with you forever dearest comrade Dolaal!!

Yet I believe that your fellow country men and women,
Will raise your slogan to free your land,
To uphold your undying courage and principles,
Your determination and heroic resistance spirits,
That’s shaken the foundation of the colonisers,
Until the enemy is made to learn appropriate lessons!

O!! Yes, O! Yes, I truly swear!
I remain appreciating your principles and values,
I announce your slogan to the global nations,
The sufferings of your nation and other peoples,
Under the Abyssinian brutal colonisers,
With strong conviction and courage
to continue to teach lessons the brutalisers!!

But, but still I argue unequivocally that,
Death is ultimate death for those who have already dead,
Death is curse for those who have already surrendered,
Death is eternal for those who torture defenceless,
Death is punishment for those who brutalise helpless!!

Yet, you have passed away to live eternally,
You left us with living memory and immortal legacy,
You thought us how to defend our freedom and liberty,
You have produced hundreds of millions to stand against brutalizers,
To punish those who torture and massacre your people,
To expose their hidden secrets and
Democracy decorated ugly faces,
You remain in every ones all round lives,
Although the shock about your sudden-rest forever reverberates!!

Therefore, Sincerely,
I send you a living greetings and swear not to surrender,
I solemnly promise to be your principles defender,
With your people and the others subjugated nations,
We shall bring an end for Abyssinian occupiers!!
We promise to keep your dream alive,
By making your spirit amongst us survive!!
By making you heroic resistance amongst us survive!!

With deepest Condolences in Living Memory of Dr Dolaal,
(On behalf of the Sidama nation)
By Kambata Xoola, Sidama National

Oil Exploration in the Ogaden

2009-06-04T14:51:00.000-07:00

The Ogaden National Liberation Front has ascertained that certain multinational Oil corporations are intent on exploiting Ogaden fossil fuel resources in alliance with the current Ethiopian regime that is committing genocide and War Crimes in Ogaden. Currently certain companies are clearing of all vegetation an area equal to 1600 sq. Km. in Cagarweyne and Miir-Khalif near Wardheer, displacing thousands of the nomadic population and destroying the scarce vegetation in a vulnerable ecology. Besides destroying the livelihood of the rural population in the affected areas, these companies are filling the coffers of this regime and financing its criminal activities in occupied Ogaden.
This in turn has encouraged the regime of Meles Zenawi to undertake a scorched earth policy in the Ogaden and commit genocide in the Ogaden. The sites these companies operate at are guarded by mechanised Ethiopian Army troops who make fortifications and forcefully evict the local population by killings, rape, detention and destruction of property.
Thus these companies are accomplices to the Ethiopian regimes crimes and are directly involved in the on-going genocide in the Ogaden.

Furthermore, in order to accommodate these immoral and gluttonous rushes for Oil in Ogaden, Ethiopia killed, raped and illegally detained thousands of Ogaden civilian and imposed economic and aid blockade at a time of when there was a full blown draught in the Ogaden.

Ethiopia is violating both International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Ogaden. These rights had been enshrined in the UN Charter and international laws since the end of World War II and have benefited many colonised and oppressed nations of the world; however, they have deliberately been deprived of the Ogaden people. Today Ethiopia is denying the Ogaden people their right to life and development while both the UN and the AU are turning a blind eye.
Furthermore the current regime in Ethiopia is bent on further usurping their natural resources, and these multi-national companies are party to this heinous crime perpetrated against a colonised stateless people.

Since ONLF has persistently warned these unscrupulous multinational companies and their governments, it is very clear that they are not only manifestly disregarding the plight of the Ogaden people but are actively participating in the violation of the Human and Political rights of the Ogaden people, the Ogaden National Liberation Front has been left no alternative but to take all measures necessary to protect the inalienable rights of the Ogaden people.

Ogaden National Liberation Front

ONLF, the African Fighters for Ogaden´s Liberation and Democracy

2009-05-16T08:25:00.000-07:00

Ogaden has lived over the past two years under conditions similar to those befallen on the Kosovars in the terrible winter 1998 – 99; parts of the mercilessly tyrannized land have been carpet-bombed by the military aircraft of Africa´s bloodiest tyrant, the uncivil Tigray thug Meles Zenawi, who boasts to be the preferred interlocutor of the - detrimental to US interests - Ass. Secretary Jendayi Frazer.
The longer Jendayi Frazer stays in her position the better for China´s interests in Africa; this situation, at the time of the Lhasa insurgence, must take a short end.

In the same way the Kosova Liberation Front (KLA) represented the most valiant and honorable representation of the desire of the Albanian Kosovars for Freedom, Justice, Liberation and Self-Determination, the Ogaden National Liberation Front struggles for Freedom, Democracy, Respect of the Human Rights, and Independence for the long tyrannized, deprived, and massacred.

Ogadenis.
Fraudulent, and Corrupt US Administrators Slandering ONLF.

Contrarily to what an impartial observer could possibly accept, prepaid agents working in the US administration attempt to diffuse the rumor that the ONLF is a terrorist organization, eventually assassinating people in Ogaden. This is a typical black propaganda that has been attested in various parts of the world; in the same way the KLA was falsely accused of terrorist acts (that in fact were a mere self-defense against the criminal Serbian state terror machine), the Tibetan monks have been disreputably accused of terrorism by the Chinese tyrants.

It is truly odd how the dictatorial regime at Addis Ababa expels one international NGO after the other on the ground of cooperation with the ONLF (which automatically means that the Ogadeni Front is a trustworthy interlocutor for Human Rights activists of global caliber), and these fraudulent and corrupt US administrators store money on Swiss bank accounts by defaming the Righteous and Honorable Struggle of a Nation for Liberation.
If we examine the origin of the money these corrupt US administrators and supposedly academics make, we realize that we attest one of the most squalid cases of politically immoral behaviour; the money is paid by Abyssinian ambassadors and consuls, who are all Amhara and Tigray Abyssinians hired by the racist state machine in order to ceaselessly promote their filthy tribal interests at the detriment of the outright majority of the subjugated nations of Abyssinia, the Ogadenis, the Oromos, the Afars, the Sidamas, the Kambatas, the Shekachos, the Kaffas, the Agaws, the Anuak, the Wolayitas and others.

In fact, the racist Amhara and Tigray Abyssinian elites not only attempt to perpetuate the anti-Kushitic, anti-African tyranny that they imposed on all the aforementioned, subjugated nations, but they also immorally, illegally and inhumanly occupy positions of representatives of those whose extermination they have undertaken in an all-committed and most determined way. And they disreputably call themselves ´Ethiopians´ to demonstrate cultural ´authenticity´, whereas for more than a century they undertook an anti-Ethiopian, anti-Kushitic, anti-African Cultural Genocide.
Contrarily to what eventual falsifications and black propaganda may diffuse, the ONLF cadres, spread in Ogaden and the Diaspora, incessantly work for the utmost benefit of all the oppressed Ogadenis, for their freedom, for their liberation, and for their prosperity in a democratic, tolerant and open society.

To better illuminate the ONLF cadres´ approach to their National History, Identity and Perspectives, and to highlight the parallels existing between the Struggle of Kosovars and the Pledge of the Ogadenis, we publish here integrally a Press Release issued yesterday by the ONLF Foreign Relations Bureau. As the text encapsulates the History of Ogaden, and reveals the tyrannical methods used by the Abyssinian elites, the urgency for Ogaden´s secession and independence becomes plainly understood.
Will be continued………….

Ogaden National Liberation Front :O.N.L.F"

2009-04-28T13:21:00.000-07:00

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..

The Ogaden War 1977-1978

2009-04-28T12:09:00.000-07:00

State entry Exit combat force population Losses
Cuba 1975 1987 15000 8700000 2000
Ethiopia 1964 1987 217000 42000000 15000
Rebels 1964 1987 50000 1000000 5000
Somalia 1964 1987 50000 5000000 15000

The SNA"Somalia National Army" never recovered from its defeat in the Ogaden War. The battles to retake and then defend the Ogaden stripped the Somali armed forces of many troops, much of their equipment, and their Soviet patron. For the next decade, the SNA sought unsuccessfully to improve its capability by relying on a variety of foreign sources, including the United States. The Ogaden War therefore remains the best example of the SNA's ability to mount and sustain conventional military operations.
Before the Ogaden War, the most striking feature of the 23,000-man SNA had been its large armored force, which was equipped with about 250 T-34 and T-54/T-55 Soviet-built medium tanks and more than 300 armored personnel carriers. This equipment gave the SNA a tank force more than three times as large as Ethiopia's. The prewar SAF also was larger than Ethiopia's air force. In 1976 the SAF had fifty-two combat aircraft, twenty-four of which were Soviet-built supersonic MiG21s . Facing them was an Ethiopian Air Force (EAF) of thirty-five to forty aircraft. Ethiopia also was in the process of acquiring several United States-built Northrop F-5 fighters from Iran. At the outbreak of fighting, Ethiopia had approximately sixteen F5A /Es.
After the Somali government committed the SNA to the Ogaden, the conflict ceased to be a guerrilla action and assumed the form of a conventional war in which armor, mechanized infantry, and air power played decisive roles. The SNA quickly adapted its organization to battlefield realities. The centralized Somali logistics system controlled supplies at battalion level (600- to 1,000-man units) from Mogadishu, an unwieldy arrangement given Somalia's limited transportation and communications network. To facilitate operations, the logistics center and headquarters for forces fighting in the northern Ogaden moved to Hargeysa, the SNA's northern sector headquarters. Before the war, all Somali ground forces had been organized into battalions. After the conflict started, however, the standard infantry and mechanized infantry unit became the brigade, composed of two to four battalions and having a total strength of 1,200 to 2,000 personnel.
Somalia's greatest victory occurred in mid-September 1977 in the second attempt to take Jijiga, when three tank battalions overwhelmed the Ethiopian garrison. After inflicting some heavy losses on Somali armor, Ethiopian troops mutinied and withdrew from the town, leaving its defense to the militia, which was incapable of slowing the Somali advance. The Ethiopians retreated beyond the strategic Marda Pass, the strongest defensive position between Jijiga and Harer, leaving the SNA in a commanding position within the region. Despite this success, several factors prevented a Somali victory. Somali tank losses had been heavy in the battles around Dire Dawa and Jijiga. Moreover, because the EAF had established air superiority over the SAF, it could harass overextended Somali supply lines with impunity. The onset of the rainy season hampered such air attacks; however, the bad weather also bogged down Somali reinforcements on the dirt roads.

After watching Ethiopian events in 1975-76, the Soviet Union concluded that the revolution would lead to the establishment of an authentic Marxist-Leninist state and that, for geopolitical purposes, it was wise to transfer Soviet interests to Ethiopia. To this end, Moscow secretly promised the Derg military aid on condition that it renounce the alliance with the United States. Mengistu, believing that the Soviet Union's revolutionary history of national reconstruction was in keeping with Ethiopia's political goals, closed down the U.S. military mission and the communications centre in April 1977. In September, Moscow suspended all military aid to the aggressor, began openly to deliver weapons to Addis Ababa, and reassigned military advisers from Somalia to Ethiopia. This Soviet volte-face also gained Ethiopia important support from North Korea, which trained a People's Militia, and from Cuba and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, which provided infantry, pilots, and armoured units. By March 1978, Ethiopia and its allies regained control over the Ogaden.

Mengistu's government was unable to resolve the Eritrean problem, however, and expended large amounts of wealth and manpower on the conflict while rebellion spread to other parts of Ethiopia. Similarly, Siyaad proved unable to return the Ogaden to Somalian rule, and the people grew restive; in northern Somalia, rebels destroyed administrative centres and took over major towns. Both Ethiopia and Somalia had followed ruinous socialist policies of economic development, and they were unable to surmount droughts and famines that afflicted the Horn during the 1980s. In 1988 Siyaad and Mengistu agreed to withdraw their armies from possible confrontation in the Ogaden..

OGADENIA

2009-04-22T11:51:00.000-07:00

Ogaden (pronounced and often spelled Ogadēn) is the international name of the Somali Regional State in Ethiopia. The inhabitants are predominantly ethnic Somali and Muslim. The title "Somali Galbeed", which means "Western Somalia," is often preferred by some Somalis.

The region, which is around 400,000 square kilometres, borders Djibouti, Kenya, and Somalia.[1] Important towns include Jigjiga, Awbere, Degehabur, (Dhagaxbuur in Somali), Gode (Godey), Jijiga (Jigjiga), Kebri Dahar (Qabridahare), Fiq, Shilavo (Shilaabo), Kelafo, and Werder (Wardheer).

The Ogaden is a plateau, with an elevation above sea level that ranges from 1,500 meters in the northwest, falling to about 300 meters along the southern limits and the Wabi Shebelle valley. The areas with altitudes between 1400 and 1600 meters are characterized as semi-arid, receiving as much as 500-600 mm of rainfall annually. More typical of the Ogaden is an average annual rainfall of 350 mm and less. The landscape consists of dense shrubland, bush grassland and bare hills.[2] In more recent years, the Ogaden has suffered from increasingly erratic rainfall patterns, which has led to an increasing frequency of major droughts: in 1984-85; 1994; and most recently in 1999-2000, during which pastoralists claim to have lost 70-90 per cent of their cattle.
History
Ogaden was part of the Muslim Ifat Sultanate in the 13th and beginning of the 14th centuries. The borders of the sultanate extended to the Shewa - Addis Ababa area. The region developed its own Adal kingdom from late 14th to the last quarter of the 19th century. There was an ongoing conflict between the Adal kingdom and the Christian Kingdom of Abyssinia throughout this time. During the first half of the 16th century, most Abyssinian territory came under the rule of Adal, when Imam Ahmed Gurey, the leader of Adal's Army, took control.

During the last quarter of the 19th century, the region was conquered by Menelik II and Ethiopia solidified their occupation by treaties in 1897.

I.M. Lewis argues a subtly different interpretation of this treaty, emphasizing that "the lost lands in the Haud which were excised from the Protectorate [i.e. British Somalialand] were not, however ceded to Ethiopia".[6] In practice, Ethiopia exerted little administrative control east of Jijiga until 1934 when an Anglo-Ethiopian boundary commission attempted to demarcate the treaty boundary. This boundary is still violently disputed.

The region was annexed to Italian Somaliland in 1936 by Italy, after their conquest of Ethiopia. Following their conquest of Italian East Africa, the British sought to let the Ogaden be unified with British Somaliland and the former Italian Somaliland, to realize Greater Somalia which was supported by many Ogaden Somalis.[8] Ethiopia unsuccessfully pleaded before the London Conference of the Allied Powers to gain the Ogaden and Eritrea in 1945, but their persistent negotiations and pressure from the USA eventually persuaded the British in 1948 to abandon all of the Ogaden except for the Haud, and a corridor called the Reserved Area stretching from the Haud to French Somaliland (modern Djibouti). The British returned these last parts to Ethiopia in 1954.

In the late 1970s, internal unrest in the Ogaden resumed. The Western Somali Liberation Front, spurred by Muktal Dahir, used guerrilla tactics to resist Ethiopian rule. Ethiopia and Somalia fought the Ogaden War over control of this region and its peoples.

In 2007, the Ethiopian Army launched a military crackdown in Ogaden. The main rebel group is the Ogaden National Liberation Front under its Chairman Mohamed O. Osman, which is fighting against what they see as an Ethiopian occupation. Somalis who inhabit Ogaden claim that Ethiopian military kill and torture civilians, destroy the livelihood of many of the ethnic Somalis and commit crimes against the nomads in the region. [10] Numerous international rights organizations accuse Ethiopian regime of committing abuses and crimes that "violate laws of war,"[11] as a recent report by the Human Rights Watch indicates. [12] According to US House of Representatives committee, the Ethiopia has killed people, tortured civilians and committed crimes against the nomads in the region.

O.N.L.F

2009-04-16T22:45:00.000-07:00

Introduction

The Horn of Africa has been marked by struggle for decades. Behind some of the violence, including an April 2007 attack on a Chinese oil rig in Ethiopia, is the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF). The ONLF, a group of ethnic Somali nationalists based in eastern Ethiopia, takes up the banner of past groups seeking self-governance for ethnic Somalis throughout the region. Their attacks threaten the delicate stability of the region and could set off a new chill on much-needed foreign investment.
What is the Ogaden National Liberation Front?
The ONLF describes itself as a “grassroots social and political movement” that serves as an “advocate for and defender of” Somalis in Ogaden, a region of eastern Ethiopia with a large ethnic Somali population, against Ethiopian regimes. Founded in 1984 by members of a variety of ethnic Somali liberation groups, it can also be described as a separatist rebel group fighting to make Ogaden an independent state. Its main tactics include countering government influence in the region and using violent force, including kidnappings and bombings. The ONLF is believed to be responsible for the deaths of thousands of government forces. ONLF supporters say the group does not use bombing as a tactic and has a policy of deliberately not targeting civilians in its military operations. While some experts consider the ONLF’s activities terrorism, the U.S. State Department does not include the OLNF on its Foreign Terrorist Organization list and the group is not on similar lists maintained by the European Union and Britain.
How was the ONLF formed?
The ONLF formed in the wake of the Western Somali Liberation Front (WSLF), which lost the support of Somalis living in Ogaden after the 1977-1978 war in which Ethiopia crushed Somali government forces attempting to gain control of areas with large ethnic Somali populations. WSLF members helped found the ONLF and then recruited their former colleagues to join them. By the time the WSLF was disbanded, the ONLF had gained increased support among ethnic Somalis residing in Ethiopia. In 1991, the ONLF joined the political process, and performed well in regional parliamentary elections. The group’s political wing later merged with another political party to form the Somali People’s Democratic Party, which remains a powerful political force in the region.
What does the ONLF want?
The ONLF is a nationalist movement that seeks self-determination for ethnic Somalis in the Ogaden region. This is in contrast to other national movements in the Horn of Africa, which have sought to create a “Greater Somalia” in which all areas populated by Somalis are unified into one country. The ONLF also claims that the Ethiopian government has committed human rights abuses in the Ogaden, including interfering with relief work and international aid intended for the area, and that it wants retribution. Ethiopian officials have repeatedly denied such charges and allege the ONLF is responsible for the abuses.
What has the ONLF done?
The ONLF has instigated ambushes and guerrilla-style raids against Ethiopian troops since its inception, and has kidnapped foreign workers presumed to be agents or supporters of Ethiopia’s government. It has launched attacks on Ethiopian military convoys, and it has been accused of bombings in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa. A particularly fierce dispute has long simmered between the central government and ONLF over the presence of energy companies in the region; the ONLF insists it will not allow the exploration of oil and gas in the area until the region gains independence, and threatens foreign companies that try. Tensions over the issue reached a new high on April 24, 2007, when ONLF gunmen killed at least seventy-four people, including sixty-five Ethiopians and nine Chinese oil workers, and kidnapped seven, on an oil field in Abole, a remote region of Ethiopia populated by ethnic Somalis. China has attempted to increase its investments in Africa in an effort to secure future energy supplies. The ONLF took responsibility for the attack on its website and claimed that the violence had not been without warning.
Should the United States worry about the ONLF?
The ONLF is not on any of the U.S. State Department terrorist lists, and as it stands now it does not pose a threat to the United States. However, Ethiopia is Washington’s closest ally in the region, and should the United States ever decide to intervene in the conflict on behalf of Ethiopia, or any other country that wants to drill for oil there, it could face violent opposition. Additionally, there have been rumors of ties between the ONLF and al-Qaeda, which would involve the United States in an entirely different manner. ONLF supporters deny any link with al-Qaeda and criticize religiously motivated violence.

THE BIOGRAPHY OF LATE "Dr IBRAHIM ABDALLe MAAX"MAY ALLAH HAVE MAERCY ON HIM"

2009-04-15T10:22:00.000-07:00

HIS EARLY LIFE

Sheikh Ibrahim Abdalle Mohamed "Mah" was born in the "Oil-Rich" but long time war-ravaged Ogaden region, at the historic town of Kallafo, in 1941 to a middle class family. He memorised the Holy Kur'an by heart at a very young age in the shanty village of Bargun. He also studied the rudimentary rules of the Islamic theology, the basic principles of Islam, and the calligraphy and graphology of the Arabic script under the tutelage of a dugsi, a locally administered Somali-style Islamic propagation centre.

HIS BASIC SECULAR ACADEMIC CAREER

Sheikh Ibrahim Abdalle began his basic education in Kallafo, whereupon, he did his lower and upper primary schooling. After his outsmarting completion of the primary level, he left for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for further studies in 1958 on foot. After performing his pilgrimage, he started secondary school in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. On successfully finishing high school, he joined the internationally acclaimed Imam Mohamed Bin Saud University in the Holy City of Mecca in 1967. Graduating from the faculty of Islamic Sharia, he obtained his baccalaureate - bachelor degree (BA) IN 1970. It was reported that the deceased was a noted bookish and an avid reader during his stay at the university, and that is where his studious journey of life time student of history started.

JOB EXPERIENCE

on finishing his university studies, he came back to his beloved homeland, Ogaden, to shoo away the boiling nostalgia that evicted him from the Kindom of Saudi Arabia; and he became a teacher in the crops-rich city of Godey early seventies. After working as a teacher for a short period of time, he was promoted to the posts of education inspector and the head of the Teachers Union in Godey. The bodily perished and the theoretically living Somali Ogaden thinker, Mah, went to the then independent Democratic republic of Somalia in 1973 and on his arrival at Mogadishu, he was taken by the ministry of education as a secondary school teacher, whereby he was located in Hargeisa, the second capital city of Somalia.

HIS MIDDLE LIFE AS A FREEDOM FIGHTER

He resigned from the educational assignments that he was holding for Somalia and joined Western Somali Liberation Front in 1976, activating the military and political philosophy of the then Somali-backed movement, WSLF, under the auspices of the late dictator, Mohamed Siad Barre. After a short while, the lost hero, Sheikh Ibrahim, became an active member of WSLF central committee through all-agreed election. He was sent to Abu Dhabi in 1981, as a diplomatic representative for Western Somali Liberation Front.

After the sheer military and political abortion of WSLF as a result of the direct military intervention of Somali armed forces, sheikh Ibrahim co-founded Ogaden National Liberation Front in 1984. In 1991, he was elected the chairman of ONLF and he had been holding that post till 1998. February 1994, Sheikh Ibrahim narrowly escaped from an assassination attempt by Ethiopian battalion based in Warder. He was defended by the people of Warder with the help of ONLF fighters scouting him, and, many Ethiopian soldiers and almost 100 civilians from Warder died because of him. It was reported that Sheikh Ibrahim took part in some of the deadliest armed confrontations between ONLF battalion and Ethiopian garrison in the war-torn Ogaden. Some tidings said that he acted field commander in the front line to give his soldiers moral support.

HIS MARITAL STATUS

Sheikh Ibrahim married three wives and he is survived by four sons and four daughters with a group of grand-children living in Nairobi, UK and the USA.

HIS PERSONALITY

Sheikh Ibrahim was a charismatic born-leader with adamant political objectives. He was an outspoken Islamic scholar and a profound patriot who believed in death for the sake of his country and in the defense of his Islamic belief. He was an honest and God-fearing man. He was a great ideologue yarning for Arab unity and Somalis nicknamed him "The pro-Arab campaigner in the Horn of Africa." He was a confident and firm freedom-fighter longing for the martyrdom of his targeted mission under any circumstance.
My first and last meeting with him in Khartoum by the end of 2006, I put the following question to him, "Ethiopia has got one of the strongest armies in Africa and your fighting with it prolonged the suffering of the Ogaden citizens. Are you capable of vanquishing this powerful and regular force? If not so, why don't you negotiate with the government, Ethiopia?" Sheikh Ibrahim smiled and replied to me, "My NO TO ETHIOPIAN COLONISATION is stronger than the strong armed forces that you mentioned. We have gallant and stronger fighters than theirs, and, we are ready to fight them to the end till they peacefully withdraw from our homeland - Ogaden. Our brave and patient people can't accept the oligarchic colonial rule of the up-starts - the minority Tigtay, under the despotic and autocratic instruction of the callow leadership of Mr Zenawi."

HIS AUTHORSHIP

He was one of the greatest historians in Africa and the finest writers in Arabic language. He was an astute political scientist and a broad-minded researcher on African and Arabian political history. He was a hot political analyst; and an author of heaps of articles on different Arabic magazines and daily newspapers in the Middle East. He wrote over five books on African regional crises and he was now working on a linguistical analysis book about the lexicological interrelations between Arabic and Somali languages. Moreover, he currently finished a book he named "The War on Maps in The Horn of Africa" which is waiting for posthumous publication.

HIS LATER LIFE

Sheikh Ibrahim Abdalle was the head of "The Horn of Africa Research and Strategic Studies Centre" in Abu Dhabi that he founded in 1999. He was also a member of ONLF central committee and the spiritual leader of the above mentioned separatist rebel movement waging war against Ethiopia for the complete independence of Ogaden region. He died in Abu Dhabi on 22 June 2008. He was buried in Abu Dhabi on 24 June 2008. According to postmortem examination, his death was natural

VIEWS OF THE OGADEN PEOPLE UNDER ETHIOPIAN COLONISM

2009-04-05T13:33:00.000-07:00

BACKGROUND

The Ogaden Somali territory lies between Oromia to the West, Afar land to the Northwest, the Republic of Djibouti to the north, Kenya to the south and The Somali Republic to the east.

Somali agro-pastorals people with a single language, culture, and socio-economic structure inhabit the Ogaden territory.
The Ogaden Somali people were free, independent and powerful until colonial powers from overseas came to Africa and started arming the Abyssinian chiefs in the north of present day Ethiopia.

The Abyssinians using the arms and expertise provided by the colonialists captured Harar in 1884 and started raiding Ogaden Somali villages in that area, killing the men and selling women and children as slaves.

The Ogaden Somalis resisted vehemently the encroachment of the Abyssinian expansionists and succeeded in halting their advance. Even though the Abyssinian military campaign to conquer the rest of the Somali territory failed, the colonial powers recognised its claim over the Ogaden Somaliland and signed treaties with them.From 1886 to 1948, Abyssinia (renaming itself Ethiopia) waged a constant war of conquest against the Somalis but failed in gaining any further foothold in the Ogaden.

In 1935, Italy invaded Abyssinia and captured it along with the Ogaden and the territories of other nations in the area. Then the British defeated Italy in the Horn of Africa in 1941, and it administered the Ogaden for eight years until it transferred the first part of the Ogaden (Jigjiga area) to Ethiopia (the Abyssinians) for the first time. The next parts were transferred in 1954 and 1956. Thus, Ethiopia gained the control over the Ogaden without the knowledge or consent of the Ogaden Somalis. From that time onward, successive Ethiopian regimes mercilessly suppressed the Ogaden people and whenever the liberation movements seriously weakened and threatened Ethiopian colonialism, a foreign power directly intervened to re-establish its colonial rule over the Ogaden.

Ethiopia since the beginning of this century and up to now has been characterised by one nation using the powers of state to subjugate and exploit all the other nations within that artificial system. For almost one century, the Abyssinians are abusing the concept of sovereignty and statehood to deprive the rights of other people living under the rule of the artificial state of Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is a state founded on colonial doctrine and bases its rule on the use of force and emergency measures for oppressing the majority of the people and exploiting them. Ethiopia claims that African borders inherited from colonialism should be left intact and it inherited the Ogaden territory from the colonial powers. At the same time, Ethiopia is boasting to be the only African state that was never colonised. This means that Ethiopia has been a participating partner with the colonial powers that divided Africa among themselves but has never relinquished its colonial possessions.

To maintain such a colonial state, the rulers had to build a massive military machine and embark on forcefully maintaining one of the most vicious authoritarian rules in the third world. The resultant resistance from the people and the inevitable taxing of material and moral resources of the oppressing elite became Ethiopia Achilles’ hill and brought about the downfall of its successive regimes. The relentless resistance of the colonised nations and the consequential resource drainage brought down both the rules of Haille Sellassie and the military Junta of Mengistu.

THE CURRENT REGIME IN ETHIOPIA

After the fall of Mengistu Haille Mariam, EPRDF (Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front - the new name adopted by the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front to camouflage it’s narrow ethnic base and rule Ethiopia, succeeded in capturing Addis Ababa with the help of Eritrean Peoples Liberation Front (EPLF).
Although most of the nations under Ethiopian colonial rule contributed to the weakening and downfall of the Ethiopian Politico- military machine, specially the Ogaden Somali people who not only played a major role but also involved their brethren across the border from the Somali Republic, TPLF captured the seat of power and succeeded in gaining international recognition.

At first the new Ethiopian rulers feeling weak and aware of the international climate and the demise of totalitarian regimes and the era of colonialism, forwarded a reasonable and plausible program for addressing the burning issue of Ethiopian colonialism and its solution through recognising and granting the right of nations to self-determination through a peaceful process.
EPRDF offered the charter program, which recognised the right of nations to self-determination up to cessation and stated that a transitional period of two years has to relapse before the nations could exercise that right. Thus, EPRDF recognised the colonial nature of Ethiopia in principle.

The Ogadenia National Liberation Front (ONLF), considering the burden of the long struggle of the Ogaden Somali people and cognisant of the priceless value of resolving the long standing conflict between Ethiopia and the Ogaden people through peaceful means decided to give chance to peace and avert a costly and unnecessary war
.
But before the ink was dry, it became obvious to ONLF that EPRDF was only buying time and was lying the ground for keeping intact the colonial legacy it inherited and was scheming to attain the submission of the Ogaden Somalis to it colonial rule through demagogy and token democracy. EPRDF grossly miscalculated the gravity and depth of the Ogaden Ethiopian problem.

EPRDF blinded by its sudden and unexpected victory and the temporary absence of challenge and armed opposition from The Ogadenia National Liberation Front grossly miscalculated the severity and gravity of the conflict between the Ogaden people and Ethiopia and the unbending desire of the Ogaden Somalis to regain their usurped sovereignty and independence. EPRDF, forgetful of the bitter experience of its people under the previous rulers and despite its rhetoric of being committed to democracy and the rule of law and respecting the right of nations began the construction of its politico-military structures for maintaining the colonial empire of its predecessors.

Hence, all people concerned in ending the long-standing conflict lost an excellent opportunity and EPRDF planted the seeds of the next cycle of bloodshed and violence in the region. It started trying to divide the Ogaden Somali people and undermine the leading role of ONLF by creating pseudo-organisations based on tribal lines. At the same time, it spread its intelligence network and military garrisons all over the Ogaden. In early 1992, the EPRDF government masterminded the killing of several ONLF officials, including some members belonging to the Front’s Central Committee.
Then EPRDF attacked the headquarters of ONLF in an effort to wipe it out but withdrew after sustaining high casualties and postponed its plans.
In spite of all the intrigues and harassment of EPRDF, ONLF and the Ogaden Somalis persisted in avoiding confrontation and continued rebuilding their political and administrative institutions.

In September 1992, the Ogaden people went to the polls to cast their votes in a free and fair election, for the first time in their long history, to elect their district councils and representatives for the regional parliament. EPRDF strongly campaigned for its surrogate parties and members, but in a landslide victory, the ONLF won about 84% of the seats in the newly elected regional parliament.

In mid-1993, the regional government complained to the government in Addis Ababa about its flagrant interference in the day-to-day affairs of the Ogaden region, an act that contradicted the commitment to regional autonomy and devolution of power to the regions.
EPRDF retaliated by freezing the regional budget, diverting international aid, discouraging international Non Governmental Organisations (NGO’s) to work in the Ogaden, as well as obstructing all initiatives, and projects deemed necessary for the development of the region. In late 1993, the Ethiopian security forces arrested the president, vice-president and secretary of the Regional Assembly, and it transferred them to prison in Addis Ababa. EPRDF released them after ten months without trail.

Finally, when EPRDF established its legitimacy as the government of Ethiopia in the eyes of the international community, and its military and economic resources was enhanced, it felt confident enough to mount a military campaign against the Ogaden Somalis at the end of the transitional period.

Moreover, in order to get the raison d’être for its campaign of terror and subjugation of the Ogaden people, EPRDF dictated to ONLF and the Ogaden Somalis an unacceptable choice. In effect, EPRDF told the Ogaden Somalis to either endorse a compulsory constitution that would legalise the colonisation of the Ogaden people by Ethiopia and the participation in an election where their role would be to endorse EPRDF nominated candidates. EPRDF strategy was to deceive the Ogaden Somalis into sanctioning its colonial rule while at the same time eliminating themselves from the political structures it intended to maintain its hegemony over the nations and avert any future threat.

In addition, if the Ogaden Somalis oppose what it proposed, to get the motive for declaring war on the Ogaden people and extricate itself from honouring the pledges it entered in its moment of weakness and maintain the Ethiopian colonial legacy.

The Ogaden people, after deliberating on the moves and intentions of EPRDF and understanding the choices EPRDF was presenting to them—either to relinquish what they had fought for so long or to be trodden upon, decided that it was unacceptable to succumb to the designs of EPRDF and forgo the quest for their self-determination and freedom. A quest the Ogaden people had shed so much blood for and suffered so much.

Therefore, on 28 January 1994, at a press conference in Addis Ababa, ONLF called for a referendum on self-determination and independence for the Ogaden. And on 22 February 1994, a cold-blood massacre took place in the town of Wardheer, where more than 81 unarmed civilians were killed by TPLF militias, who tried to kill or capture alive the chairman of the ONLF Mr. Ibrahim Abdalla Mohamed, who was addressing at that time a peaceful rally in the centre of the town.

In February 1994, the Regional Assembly passed a unanimous resolution in accordance with the Transitional Charter, demanding a referendum on self-determination and independence for the Ogaden people, under the auspices of international and regional bodies such as United Nations, Organization of African Unity, European Union, and other independent non-governmental organizations.

The EPRDF government in Addis Ababa reacted swiftly overthrowing and virtually disbanding all democratically elected institutions in the Ogaden, including the Regional Parliament. Like their predecessors, the president of the Regional Parliament, vice-president and several members of the parliament (MPs), were arrested and transferred to prison in Addis Ababa. Mass arrests and indiscriminate killings also took place.

On 17 April 1994, the Ethiopian government launched a large scale military offensive against ONLF positions and detained many suspected supporters of ONLF and on 28 April 1994, at a press conference in Addis Ababa, the then TPLF defence minister Saye Abraha claimed that all resistance movements in the Ogaden had been destroyed and stamped out.

In a petition addressed to the president of the Transitional Government of Ethiopia (TGE), the elders of the Ogaden asked the Ethiopian government to stop the military offensive against the Ogaden people, and seek a peaceful dialogue to resolve the conflict, instead of opting for a military solution, which complicates the already explosive situation.

In May 1994, the EPRDF government sponsored a new surrogate party called Ethiopian Somali Democratic League (ESDL), which is a version of People’s Democratic Organizations (PDO), which exists throughout Ethiopia within the EPRDF framework.

The first congress of ESDL was held in Hurso under the patronage of the then prime minister of TGE Tamirat Layne (now eliminated also), who appointed a member of the ruling EPRDF coalition as a chairman of the new pro-government party.

On 25 January 1995, the EPRDF government hastily arranged a meeting in the town of Qabridaharre to convince the ONLF to participate in the upcoming federal and regional elections. The meeting, which was chaired by the then president Meles Zenawi (the current prime minister), failed when EPRDF refused to allow independent arbitrators to participate in a negotiated settlement.

After that the ONLF, broke off all contacts with the EPRDF government, closed down its office in Addis Ababa and boycotted elections in 1995.
Since 20 April 1994, combatants of the ONLF and Ethiopian forces are fighting bloody battles and Ethiopia is vehemently denying the engagements with the liberation forces. Certainly, the ongoing struggle for self-determination and independence in the Ogaden continues to cause inhuman sufferings and are the basis of instability and tragedy in the Horn of Africa.

The 1991 Charter and the new Constitution, which Ethiopia espoused on 8 December 1994, guaranteed, as EPRDF claimed, the secession of a people if they are, “Convinced that their rights are abridged or abrogated”.

In addition, the process of negating that the rights of the Ogaden Somali people is constantly abrogated proved too costly to the ruling junta in Addis Ababa.

The tyrannical regime in Ethiopia started a campaign of propaganda and public relation stunt in order to convince the international community of it democratic and liberal nature and to legitimise its continued presence in the Ogaden after the people requested to exercise their right to self determination and announced that it was conducting elections in the Ogaden.

The Ogaden people thwarted its attempts but never the less it announced that the elections were held and its bogus surrogates had won the seats in the Ogaden. At the same time to further cloak its treachery, it formed its own ONLF party and unashamedly declared that ONLF had taken part in its sham elections. This was a clear indicator of its lack of confidence and inability to hide its failure to control the Ogaden.

From that time onwards, Ethiopia has been moulding and remoulding it sham representatives in the Ogaden, the so-called parties and Ogaden parliament, more than five times but up to this day Ethiopia is unable to manage the situation.

After failing to intimidate the Ogaden Somalis to go along with its colonial program, EPRDF has embarked on a war of attrition with ONLF and indiscriminate and inhuman tyranny against the Ogaden people. The Ethiopian army (EPRDF militia’s) killed, imprisoned or looted thousands of civilians. Hundreds of women were raped and for the first time in the history of the Ogaden people, male children were raped.

But the new Ethiopian colonial state headed by EPRDF has used every trick in the books of colonial strategy but failed to obliterate the armed national struggle of the Ogaden People and has been forced to occupy only the major towns and move in heavily armed convoys.

Then Ethiopia frantically resorted to human rights violations such as killings, imprisonments, forced conscription, exiling, intimidation and harassment, suppression of basic democratic rights which highlight the suffering of the peoples. The regime's policies of systematic underdevelopment include economic sabotage, irresponsible plunder of resources with no regard to sustainability of the environmental, denial of education opportunities, socio-cultural dismantling and subjection to conflict-ridden political and administrative structures.

Moreover in the Ogaden, EPRDF forces and Tigrean dealers, who have been given concessions and game-licences by the Ethiopian government, which is dominated by ethnic Tigreans, are devastating the poor and the fragile ecological balance by widespread exploitation and depletion of forests for military purposes, firewood and charcoal. The rich wildlife, including big game, game birds, forests and water resources has all suffered irreparable damage in the Ogaden under the Ethiopian government.

After it became obvious to EPRDF that it could not destroy the national resistance of the people and that it was gaining momentum, EPRDF following the strategies of its predecessors attacked stateless Somalia and captured three regions. Ethiopia is intending to find scapegoats to blame for its failure in subduing the Ogaden people and their rejection of its colonial lust, divert attention and in a bid to maintain its credibility both inside and outside Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is also actively engaged in sabotaging the reconciliation of the Somali people and building of a Somali state. At the same time, Ethiopia is hosting summits for the Somali leaders and is posing as a mentor to the Somali people and collecting funds from the UN on that issue.

The Ethiopian destabilisation plan is not limited to the Somali nation. Ethiopia attacked Eritrea on the pretext of retaking two Eritrean territories but in reality is intent in recapturing Eritrea and colonising it again, but Ethiopia received from Eritrea lessons it did not bargain for. Ironically, the Ethiopian government, which violates the very basic human rights of all citizens in the empire-state of Ethiopia, including the Ogaden Somalis, and wages wars against its neighbours, poses itself as a champion of Democracy and Human Rights in Africa.

THE POSITION OF THE OGADEN SOMALIS

The Ogaden Somali people present the following summation of their views about Ethiopia:
Ethiopia has colonised the Ogaden people and is viciously continuing that colonial legacy in spite of the change of regime in Addis Ababa and the Ogaden people categorically state that the present regime of EPRDF is not different from the rule of it predecessors in substance.
The Ogaden people are a sovereign nation, have the right to be masters of their destiny, and are intent on actualising that right.

The Ogaden people will continue to struggle as long as the Ethiopian state remains intransigent to the rights and wishes and continue pursuing its inhuman oppressive policies.
The Ogaden people will not participate in the bogus elections Ethiopia periodically conducts as a public relations exercise to beguile the local and international communities and hide its colonial and authoritarian nature, nor will they be take part in its colonial administrative structures.
The Ogaden people calls upon the people of Ethiopia not to participate in the maniacal purges the current regime is perpetrating on the Ogaden people and become a party to the regime’s crime against humanity.

The Ogaden people calls upon the current EPRDF regime ruling Ethiopia to desist from its current militaristic and aggressive attitude and accept a peaceful negotiated settlement of the current conflict between the Ogaden people and Ethiopia with the participation of third neutral parties from the international community.

APPEAL TO THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

The Ogaden people inform the international community that the Ethiopian government is violating their basic human rights and is systematically exterminating them. Ethiopia is being encouraged to commit this genocide against the Ogaden people by the lack of the international community censure over its human Rights violations, and holding its rulers responsible for the gross human rights, abuses perpetrated by its Army and Security Forces in the Ogaden.

The Ogaden people appeal to the international to recognise the colonial nature of Ethiopia and its brutal repression of the Ogaden people and hold it accountable for its acts. Furthermore, Ethiopia is using international aid for military and political programs directed at oppressing the Ogaden Somalis and other nations under it s colonial rule and in its expansionist policies against its neighbours.

Whenever its war coffers are depleted, Ethiopia appeals for international aid for natural disaster victims, at the same time Ethiopia has the means to attack two neighbouring states and maintain a huge colonial occupation army in the Ogaden, Oromia, Afar, Sidama and other territories of the oppressed nations. !

OGADENIA

2009-04-05T12:54:00.000-07:00

Facts On Ogaden

The flag of Ogaden consists of green, blue and red horizontal stripes with a pentagonal white star in the centre of the blue stripe.

Flag's Emblems:

Green:
represents the fertility and richness of the land.

Blue:
stands for the dignity and integrity of the people.
Red:
symbolizes the continuity of the struggle for self-determination and freedom
The white star represents the commitment and unity of the people.Official Name: Ogaden (in Somali Ogaadeenya)
Location: In the East of Africa ( Horn of Africa)

Neighbors: Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia

Colony: Presently under the colony of Ethiopia

Area: 369 000 square kilometres (approximation)

Population: 5-6 million people

Division: 9 provinces; 48 districts

Capital City: Godey

National Anthem: Calanyahow (meaning “Oh Flag”)

Main Languages : Somali (official), Arabic, English

Main Religions: 99.9% practice Islam

Principal Rivers: Ganaane, Shabeele, Dawa

Natural Resources: Gold, copper, natural gas, petroleum
The Nine Provinces and 48 Districts of Ogaden:

PROVINCES

AFDHEER
DHAGAXBUUR
DOOLO
GODEY
JIGJIGA
LIIBAAN
NOGOB
QORAXEY
SHINIILE

DISTRICTS

Baarey
Awaare
Bookh
Aabaqarow
Awbare

Doolow
Fiiq
Dhoobaweyn

Ayshica
Ceelkari
Dhagaxbuur
Danood
Cadaadle
Dhagaxle

Filtu
Iimey
Qabri Dahare
Casbuli
Godcusbo
Dhagaxmadow

Galaadi
Dhanaan
Gursum
Mooyaale
Salaxaad
Shaygoosh

Dawanle
Hargeele
Gaashaamo

Qoriile
Feerfeer
Jigjiga
Nageyle
Sagag
Shilaabo

Diridhaba
Jarati
Wardheer
Godey
Qabri Bayax

Xamaro
Harar
Iimey(-da 2aad)
Wajaale
Shiniile
Mustaxiil
Xarshin
Qalaafe

ONLF rebellion"Ogaden People Under Ethiopian Colonism"

2009-03-30T10:01:00.000-07:00

Ogadenia is a forgotten land wrecked by war and very harsh living conditions. The region, which is still today at the center of the volatile Horn of Africa, has seen little economic progress since its first taste of brief independence in the first Ogaden war of 1977/78.

In 1991, the Meles government came into power. The region remains to this day a barren land with only two main roads a few large towns like Kabri Dahar, Jijiga and Quabribayah, which are controlled by government forces trying to tame the rebellion led by the ONLF (Ogaden National Liberation Front). However, to fully understand the war of today’s Ogadenia, one needs to go back further in history and take a look at the European influence in the region.

With the defeat of the Somali forces and Ogaden rebels in 1978 in the hands of the Russian backed Ethiopian army, Ogadenia was reconquered entirely. Many of the militia survivors retreated to fight another day.

Three years later, the ONLF was created to continue the fighting to force the Ethiopian government into giving Ogadenia its long due independence. The ONLF, which was Founded in 1984 by Abdirahman Mahdi, the Chairman of the, Western Somali Liberation Movement Youth Union, systematically recruited their own kin and replaced WSLF in the Ogaden as the WSLF support from Somalia dwindled and finally dried up in the late eighties. By 1993, the ONLF fully consolidated its support among all of the Ogaden Somalis in Somalian territory under Ethiopian rule. In 1994, the ONLF was a fully functional military force and Chairman Admiral Mohammed Omar Osman was reelected for a second term in 2004.

The ONLF announced elections in December 1992 for the five Ogaden districts, and won 80% of the seats of the local parliament. When Ethiopia tried to force ONLF to accept a new constitution and the ONLF refused: the Meles government declared war on them. The rebel faction continues to operate in the Ogaden as of 2006 and is the target of full-scale military operations by the Ethiopian army after ONLF stated that it would not allow Malaysian oil company Petronas to extract oil from the Ogaden, let alone give them independence.

In 2005, Ethiopia proposed peace talks with ONLF, which the rebel group accepted on the condition that talks be held in a neutral country and with the presence of a neutral mediator from the international community. The talks broke down due to Ethiopia's insistence that the two parties meet without an arbitrator and held in countries closely allied in the Horn of Africa. ONLF became a part of the Alliance for freedom and democracy on May 21st 2006, fighting occurred alongside OLF and smaller rebel groups operating in the North like TPDM.

Again in 2006, the Meles government, with the full support of US and UK governments, has vowed to crush the ONLF rebellion once and for all, reinforcing the 15 thousand permanent men garrisoned in Ogadenia with a further: 25 thousand troops, jet fighters, armored cars and some helicopters. Between February and July 2006, the army tried to destroy the rebellion, but failed completely, losing thousands of troops in the process. The ONLF remained undefeated.

Why did the government, with such an overwhelming force managed to fail in its plan? They didn’t face more than 5 to 7 thousand ONLF troops through out the region. The answer to this is complex. Above all the ONLF’s strong support base with the local civilian population is key. The systematic brutalization of Ogaden civilians, and the lack of military discipline and cohesion within government troops is another reason they weren’t defeated.

Lastly, there were totally inadequate strategies and tactics employed against the rebels.
Indeed, the government has found itself in a sticky spot. Its 250 thousand men army is ill equipped to fight a war on many fronts: against the five active rebel groups operating within Ethiopia’s border, the perpetual tensions on the Eritrean border, and now the rise of Islam in Somalia. Furthermore, its ranks are racked with desertion, and lack of discipline due to the internal ethnic strife, which reigns from within its units.

Meles has given key positions to his own ethnic kin, the Tigray, both in the government, and in the army, making his policies unpopular among lesser Ethnic groups fighting alongside the Tigrays. The officer corps is overwhelmingly from Tigray “terroir”, leaving other ethnic groups less attractive positions within the army. Therefore, blocking any possibilities for them to go up the ladder, the officer corps often uses same ethnic groups to fight each other, pitting Oromos against Oromos, or Sidamas against Sidamas. The poorly led Oromo, Amhara soldier is sometimes forced to desert, finding it unbearable to kill his own kin. As a consequence, a non-negligible amount of government soldiers desert their unit to escape the grueling reality of the Ogaden front.

This is the case of Thomas Gin Ernest an ethnic Hadiyan from Southern Ethiopia, drafted by force into Meles’s army, who decided after serving for six years to desert with a few others to the ONLF. “During our walk to ONLF lines, half of our party changed their minds and returned to the military camp. They were shot for treason soon after” He says this happy to have made the right choice. When captured, Mr. Gin Ernest was given some money so he can go home to his family and be reunited. By treating the prisoners with respect and dignity, the rebels attract more allies to their cause.

More importantly, government forces have created their own monster by using terror tactics against the local population. The government’s military forces are known to use violence and killings against locals Ogadens. These procedures show how Meles’s forces underestimate their enemy. Soldiers will usually enter a village to look for potential ONLF rebels, helpers and sympathizers pick people randomly. In essence, Ogadens sympathize with the struggle and contribute to it, either by joining the fighting units, or supplying them with food, water, and guns, making them all traitors to an angry eye.

Also, many civilians have experienced repeated violence, either personally, or a relative. Alimo Ahment, a 24-year-old Ogaden woman, has a common story to tell. She joined up like so many before her, because her relatives were accused of helping the ONLF, her father was put to jail and tortured for three months These kinds of terror tactics has had the exact opposite results than those expected by the government: Thus, it has increased the number of Ogadens wanting to join up with the ONLF in ranks, and hatred against the government persists within the Ogaden population--creating an entire new generation of freedom fighters in the region.

The widespread tortures, imprisonment, and killings in the region, has seen thousands of students and locals put in jail. It is said that in the main town of Jijiga where 20 thousand souls reside, 10% are currently in military camps or local jails. Most of them are accused of helping the ONLF. Many are put in confinement without trial for a minimum of three months, which is the regular torture period, unless the prisoner is rich enough to pay a bribe.

Tortures are a daily reality and a well-orchestrated practice. It starts at 6AM when guards grab the prisoner into a small room, or sometimes an unusable bathroom. There, the interrogation begins, with the simple question.

If the prisoner is part of the ONLF organization, and each time the answer is no, he or she is beaten, electrocuted, or raped if the prisoner is a woman. This torture is repeated twice a day for four hours each time. Survivors have recorded extreme examples of pregnant women being tortured.

Shamaad Wali, a 29 year ONLF female fighter recalls: “During my time in prison, I remember the guards throwing in an eight month pregnant woman. They repeatedly beat her until she gave birth, but the baby was already dead. They just threw it away like garbage”. She says with tears in her eyes. The government of course denies such claims, but in each village such stories of tortures and killings are quite common and widespread.

Thirdly, and lastly, government forces have failed to contain the rebellion, which has gained in strength and confidence. On the ground, the heavily burdened Ethiopian soldiers are not able to catch or kill large numbers of ONLF troopers, who operate in small band using hit and run tactics; a pretty common problem for a conventional force. The ONLF has been able to keep the initiative, attacking on their terms, ambushing reinforcing convoys, infantry columns, and villages held by enemy forces. Ethiopian forces lose thousands of troops each year due to desertions and ONLF attacks. To be sent to Ogadenia is considered by soldiers as a punishment. Prisoners all agree that fighting the Ogadens is the worst enemy they can encounter in Ethiopia. Known for their warlike behavior and fighting skills, they are waging an efficient insurgency in Ogadenia.

Governmental troops do not control the land or the local population.

For ONLF cadre, victory is now within reach. From the rebel’s point of view, the situation in Addis is quickly becoming unsustainable, suggesting a partition within the country, due to the rise of ethnic separatism. To put it in one of the commander’s words: “We started in 1994 with less than one hundred soldiers, and now look at us with seven thousand freedom fighters willing to fight and die for the liberation of our people,” says proudly the 50-year-old veteran commander. As it is true that Mr. Meles’s government is fighting on many fronts, and his army cannot defeat these various rebellions throughout the country.

Powerful Western allies, such as the United Kingdom, provide him with weapons and money to sustain the war effort, back him; while US funding also contribute to fight against terrorism in Ethiopia and contain Somalia’s Islamic rise. However, it is well established that no terrorist operates in Ethiopia, but for many of his allies in the West, Ethiopia is seen as a Christian state with common values.

This can block the spread of Islam in East Africa. This kind of Western strategies and political thought will surely continue to block any attempts by rebels to challenge the government, and its military institutions leading to their replacement.

Intense war between the ONLF and the Ethiopian forces in Ogaden.

2009-03-30T09:05:00.000-07:00

There is an intense war between the Ethiopian occupant forces in Ogaden and ONLF freedom movement throughout the Ogaden.

The last war carried a small town located 15km east of the city degahbur called LASGALOOL.

This war that continues for 2 days now continuously started first with the pro-Ethiopian militia that has lost more than 60 of them.

The ONLF has shown real forces which came after the Ethiopian ground forces in the mainstream who have lost this war with a unnoun numbers. Military helicopters were used to transport killed Ethiopian soldiers.

Ethiopia has quadrupled its forces in the Ogaden, and all the ground forces that are out of Somalia is now in the Ogaden.

Primary sources in the Ethiopian government said that the EPRDF government now fears that they will lose Ogaden due Increasing the number of ONLF forces and Increasing ONLF controlled areas.

But the war in the Ogaden is now more intense than ever it has been, and local people tell you a great loss in the Ethiopian army.

Since Ethiopia has withdrawn its forces in Somalia, there have been endless war throughout the Ogaden.
It was reported large civilian casualties and humanitarian organizational
or international journister do not have access to ogaden since Ethiopia has been put a Marshal low in Ogaden
And the prohibition of all international organizations accept from the United Nations that has very strictly followed orders from the central Ethiopian government and has only allowed in certain areas.

Ogaden heroes don’t die.

2009-03-29T04:44:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, 17 January 2009, Dr. Mohammed Sirad Dolaal was killed by enemy fire while he was carrying out his duty: defending the people and the land he loved the most.

The loss of freedom fighter is not new for our people as thousands of brave ogadenis, young, old, men and women, paid the highest price, their life, defending their dignity, freedom, families, communities, property and country throughout the last century.

Many more thousand of our people, from all walks of life will sacrifice their life as long as Ethiopia’s occupation of our land continues. The loss of the great Dolaal is therefore no way surprise.

The news about the loss of Dr. Dolaal, however, was neither easy to swallow nor digest for our people. It is understandable.

Dr. Dolaal was one of the longest serving ONLF members in our struggle against the repression, humiliation, and occupation of Ogaden Somali people. As high ranking member of ONLF He left no stone unturned to liberate his people from the jaws of the brutal Ethiopian occupation. We knew him as a true son of our land.

We knew him as a highly respected defender and mentor of our rightful cause. We knew him as a brave Somali son who did not compromise the freedom of the Somali people. His determination to see an independent Ogaden and a free Somali people was unshakeable.

Dr. Dolaal could live a comfortable life, with his beloved wife and kids, in London but chose to fight the injustice, killings, massacres, displacements and subjugation of our people.As a citizen of that occupied land, as a member of that brutalized people who is denied all kind of God given rights, as a fellow brother of Dr Dolaal, I feel the same grief and sorrow, my fellow Somali people express over the loss of Dr. Dolaal.

I, however, also feel stronger, more focused and determined than yesterday. I, dare, say this because I do know what Dolaal stood for: he was “a symbol for our resistance against Ethiopia’s occupation of our land”. His ideology was clear: “fight for what is yours and never give up” a point he succeeded to plant in the hearts of our people.

Dr dolaal has prepared his people - us, to continue the struggle for our rightful existenceas as nation and as a free people in this planet. He sawed the valuable freedom seeds at every corner of our Ogadenland.

He was with us throughout the long journey to make sure that we are at the right side of the history, to quote president Obama.

Throughout human history, Colonisers and dictators like Melese Zenawi try to defend what is indefensible and justify the massacres of thousands of innocent civilians. The history, however, prove them wrong every time.

Woyane regime is not going to be an exception; they will be the ugly losers of the fight between our freedom fighters and them.

One such case happened just few weeks ago. Woyanes lost the fight against our Somali brothers in southern Somalia. They could no longer bear the heat and pressure of the fight demonstrated by our brave brothers.

I am sure that we, too, will be the winners of this struggle

Wake up Doc ones more prove them wrong, I know you can hear me, tell them Cowards,Ogaden heroes don’t die,My head spins in sorrow disbelieve,

No human-being can dare parade a body in torment,They are shallow animals awaiting termination,Undignified of their callous exploit,Wake up Doc ones more prove them wrong, I know you can hear me,

tell them Cowards,Ogaden heroes don’t die,Brave men like you are indispensable, A whole nation is engulfed in your loss,Our heart and soul are always with you,Forever indebt to your service, Wake up Doc ones more prove them wrong, I know you can hear me,

tell them Cowards,Ogaden heroes don’t die,Dead isn’t rare, it waits us all, but a few pass the test, None can compare your life long mission, even,Dying your way struggling for the best, Wake up Doc ones more prove them wrong,

I know you can hear me, tell them Cowards,Ogaden heroes don’t die,You look so peaceful lying there,Where your father Sirad Dolaal rest, A hero as well, you followed his lead,True to your passion like a father and son,

Wake up Doc ones more prove them wrong, I know you can hear me, tell them Cowards,Ogaden heroes don’t die,Freedom solutes you,Heaven treasures you deeply,

And I will miss you greatly, “Hodeen” my friend, rest in peace,Forever until end of time,I will tell them Cowards, Ogaden heroes don’t die.