we talk about ogaden and the horn of Africa!

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

occupied territory in Africa (1977)

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Thursday, October 25, 2007

Ethiopia's Leader Downplays Attack By Rebel Group

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has shrugged off claims by a rebel group that it has killed more than 250 government troops in clashes during the past few days. VOA's Peter Heinlein in Addis Ababa reports on Mr. Meles's comments during a speech to parliament.

The Ethiopian leader did not directly address claims by the Ogaden National Liberation Force that they have humiliated government troops in two separate incidents in the eastern region close to the border with Somalia.

In a message e-mailed to journalists Sunday from London, the ONLF said it had ambushed government troops near the town of Warder, about 700 kilometers east of Addis Ababa. The message said 140 soldiers had been killed, forcing the emergency evacuation of Abay Tsehaye, a senior aide to the prime minister who was visiting the region. A follow-up e-mail received Tuesday, said a second day of battles had boosted government losses to 250.

The message gave no figures for rebel casualties, saying only that they had been 'light'.

Mr. Meles mentioned the reports while answering questions in Parliament. He did not refute the reports of heavy government losses, but made light of the ONLF. claim that they had encircled the army troops and forced his aide Abay Tsehaye to flee in a helicopter.

Mr. Meles chided the international media for publicizing the incident.

"This week Ato [Mr.] Abay is supposed to have been surrounded by the ONLF, and the international media did reflect that, and it seems the international media is truly concerned about these things," Mr. Meles said. "Well, Ato Abay, who is here. We are together, Abay Tsehaye, together in same office. He was surrounded by the ONLF. and that I was not surrounded by the ONLF, is very strange indeed."

The prime minister accused the ONLF. of refusing to negotiate. He vowed to press ahead with the campaign launched earlier this year against the rebels after they killed more than 70 people in an attack on a Chinese-run oil facility. He did not directly acknowledge government losses in the fighting, but did speak of the 'ultimate sacrifice' made by some soldiers in the region of Ethiopia officially known as the Somali National State.

"The sacrifices paid in this area is not our military only, but more importantly, more serious sacrifice is being paid by the pastoralist people of the Somali National State," Mr. Meles said. "They are chasing the ONLF, until this force is out of the game completely, until the ONLF. comes back to the peaceful path, we are doing a very successful work around the Somali National State, and regarding the ONLF. it should soon be completely over."

Most foreigners, including journalists have been barred from the remote region since the government crackdown, and reports of fighting have been impossible to verify.

The ONLF. is demanding greater autonomy for the arid region bordering Somalia. Western analysts believe the rebel force numbers several thousand armed fighters.

Ethiopia accuses rival Eritrea of backing the Ogaden separatists, and of fueling unrest in other parts of the country. Eritrea has repeatedly denied the claim.

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Saturday, September 22, 2007

Horn of Africa History, Colonial Plans, and the Outrageous Forger Mammo Muchie

Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis

September 19, 2007

In an earlier article – refutation of Mammo Muchie’s report on the Horn of Africa Conference (http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article23512), we unveiled the historical falsifications and the political – ideological bias entrenched in his text’s introduction and first part. The article under the title ‘The Horn of Africa Conference Clique, and their Dark Plans for Egypt, Sudan, 'Ethiopia', and Somalia’ consisted in the first of a series, and can be found here: (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=38050).

In the present article, we will reveal Mammo Muchie’s incredibly outrageous forgeries of the Horn of Africa History, on which the Horn of Africa Conference organizers, and the dark groups hidden behind them, intend to set their monstrous geopolitical projects for a Unified Cemetery of African Peoples from Egypt’s southern border down to the Kenyan coast; this colonial project antedates Napoleon’s arrival in Egypt and provides for a Coptic Republic of Ethiopia – being intertwined with inscrutable search fro the Ark of Covenant.

We will analyze the issue in another series of articles, but here we will mostly focus on the second part of Mammo Muchie’s inconsistent and irrelevant text. That part is entitled ‘Myth of Origin’ and presents an incredible record of bogus-academic and totally unscholarly standpoints over the History of the Horn of Africa region and its wider periphery; in addition, Mammo Muchie provides us with the most convincing documentation of his dramatic ignorance of rudimentary points pertaining to the History of Eastern Africa.

We will first publish the second part of Mammo Muchie’s text, and then its refutation point per point. Numbers encrusted in Mammo Muchie’s text refer to points of refutation.

Myth of Origin (Unite the people from the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean) by M. Muchie

“Looking back far ahead at the possible birthdates of the names Ethiopia, Sudan, Djibouti, Eritrea and Somalia, 1 one finds a remarkable history that they more or less originated in the same area 2 and the forces that shaped each one has shaped the other. 3 If we look back thus to the myth of origin of these entities, 4 we find that it argues for their unity and composition rather than their division and fragmentation. 5

If we take the Pre-Judaic, Pre- Christian and pre-Islamic phases of historical evolution, 6 again the same thing transpires: the same forces that shaped each have shaped the others. 7

If we take the Judaic, Christian and Islamic periods 8 respectively, we see a history of interaction, 9 communication, 10 migrations, 11 wars, 12 and a shared civilisation 13 and extensive contact through trade with the outside world of Europe, India and China. 14 We see not only did these entities from the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean communicate through mutual subjugation and the brutalities, injustices and oppressions recorded in history from the outside medieval and ancient worlds, 15 but also through the migration of their own civilisations 16 through the Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean, even the Atlantic and other outlets. (Shihan de S Jayasuriya & R. Pankhurst (eds.) The African Diaspora in The Indian Ocean, 2003) 17

The division of these entities into the states as we know them as they are arranged now came during the notorious period of the European Scramble for Africa. 18 During this period in the 19th century the people of this region were divided 19 or mutilated 20 and their determined resistance against the colonial encounter was largely and on the whole, though heroic, was unsuccessful. 21 Even the Ethiopian 22 kings that appeared to have been able to snatch and retain a territorially carved Ethiopian state formation that waxed and waned territorially over time from the jaws of the European scramble 23 only were able to maintain and retain on the whole a tenuous grip. 24 Their states have been constantly threatened by perfidious imperial humiliations 25 through unequal treaties 26 and unrealistic and unfair border demarcations 27 that imbedded the seeds of all sorts of conflicts and antagonisms that have undermined state and unification in Ethiopia. 28 The imperial-colonial pressure was victimising rather than building. 29 Ethiopia emerged scathed with the scars and threats of the imperial agenda of the time falling prey 30 to it once more by those it defeated, for example, at Adwa in 1896 31 and falling under fascist occupation 32 between 1936 and 1941 under the Italians colonial adventures. 33

Whilst it is very clear to any sober person that Ethiopia suffered as an oppressed country, 34 and whatever it managed to recover from the imperialist onslaught 35 is gained through huge sacrifice and resistance, a particularly sinister reading and twist was given to its role during the Scramble for Africa, as if it was part and parcel of the Great Powers, and indeed a great power itself!! 36 Nothing can be furthest from the truth than this preposterous claim that Ethiopia was part and parcel of the imperial and colonial system. 37 Ethiopia was a victim of the colonial-imperial order 38 and cannot be considered as part and parcel of the imperial system 39 even if it were to have allied with one sort or group of imperial powers 40 locked in rivalries with each other to retain a partially 41 carved state from the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea.

In the Conference in Lund some delegates who should know better 42 tried to spread some unusual tales claiming that the current Somali invasion by the Ethiopian Government 43 was a continuation of the imperial colonial project of the Scramble for Africa 44 where they alleged Ethiopia participated by sending a delegation to the Berlin 1885 infamous meeting. 45 Even if Ethiopia sent an observer, it is a far cry from exaggerating such a presence into a role that Ethiopia was part of the forces that carved the African continent. 46

Conceptually such a claim is outrageous and bankrupt. 47 The Ethiopian emperor was clear that the people from the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean are historically and culturally connected. 48 But he lamented the fact that the imperial project disrupted their unity 49 and appealed to God to restore their unity at some possible time in the future. 50 That prescient insight by emperor Menelik has nothing to do with a colonial project. 51 It has everything to do with redressing great power imperial and colonial injustice 52 visited upon not only on the people from the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, but also Africa from the Mediterranean to the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. 53

In Ethiopia those who have legitimate demands to decentralise the states of the region particularly in Ethiopia by localising authority at the grassroots 54 by devolving power and empowering ordinary citizens 55 went overboard and created false ideologies 56 of Ethiopia as a’ colonial’ power. 57 This thesis has been loosely spread by books such as Addis Hiwot’s From Autocracy to Revolution, London, published by the Review of African Political Economy group, 1975, Bereket Habte Selassie, Conflict and Intervention in the Horn of Africa, MRP, New York, 1980, A . Jalata, Oromia and Ethiopia: State Formation and Ethnonational Conflict 1868-1992, Lynne Reinner, 1992, Sisay Ibsa et al The Invention of Ethiopia, Trenton, Red Sea press 1991. There are many articles and pamphleteering from the various fronts from the TPLF to OLF, ONLF, Sidama Liberation Front and others that spread loosely the false conception of Ethiopia ’s relations with the various communities both inside and outside the region as a colonial relation. 58 This sinister anti-intellectual 59 and devious misconstruction 60 must be rejected and the precise concept that truly characterises relations of oppressions involving the peoples of the region re- formulated by mounting an unsparing criticism of so much of the propaganda masquerading as science. 61 Ethiopia’s relations with Eritrea, Somalia, Djibouti or Sudan has never been colonial 62 and is not colonial in the sense of a relationship that Britain, Italy or France had with these various states including Ethiopia. 63”

Refutation of Mammo Muchie’s Myth of Origin (Unite the people from the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean)

Point 1

Valid for the targeted states, Ethiopia, Sudan, Djibouti, Eritrea and Somalia, as well as for any historical country and state, the term ‘birth date’ is erroneous; it is rather relevant of Political Sciences, and to some extent it would be normal to accept it for technical entities like Vanuatu and Tuvalu that represent artificial administrative constructions. However, it is extremely irrelevant and comical to speak about the birth date of Assyria or Rome.

Now, if we speak of ethnic and geographic terms, national names the Antiquity of which is lost in millennia, we should be more careful; names have no birth dates, either we deal with an Asiatic, African, European or American state, country or nation.

‘Ethiopia’ – which is attributed to the geographical area of Northern and Eastern Sudan and to the Kushitic nation that dwelled and developed civilization there – goes as back as the 2nd millennium BCE, when the first reference is found in the Mycenaean Linear B writings. The earliest term described the people, the Ancient Kushites, the ancestors of the Modern Oromos and other Kushitic peoples of modern Eastern Africa.

Red Sea – Erythra Thalassa – Eritrea

‘Sudan’ and ‘Somalia’ as terms emerged in the early Islamic times, in the second half of the 1st millennium CE. Djibouti was coined as term during the middle Islamic times, whereas Eritrea consists in a modern term reflecting Italy’s colonial plans. The term consists in the Italianization of the Ancient Greek adjective ‘erythros’ (‘erythra’ in the feminine), which stands for ‘red’. It was selected out of the context of the Ancient Greek text ‘Periplus (circumnavigation) of the Red Sea’ (in Ancient Greek: Periplous tes Erythras Thalasses) that was written ca. 70 CE by an anonymous Alexandrian Egyptian captain and merchant who had sailed throughout most of the area that was then called Red Sea.

Although Eritrea is the newest of the five erratically selected names, the History of the land goes back to the 1st millennium BCE. However, it would be essential to clarify at this point that our ‘Red Sea’ does not correspond to the area the Ancient Greeks called ‘Erythra Thalassa’, and the Romans named ‘Mare Rubrum’. What in the Antiquity was called by this name encompassed a far wider area than what we call today Red Sea, namely the sea, the islands and the continental coasts between the Suez Canal and the Bab el Mandeb straits.

The Ancient Greeks and Romans called ‘Red Sea’ the entire coastal and maritime region that includes the following sections (according to modern terminology):

1. the Red Sea,

2. the Persian Gulf,

3. the Gulf of Aden (between Yemen and Somalia),

4. the Arabian Sea (between Oman, Pakistan and India), and

5. the Indian Ocean, in its entirety.

Quite indicatively, when Agatharchides (Peri tes Erythras Thalasses / About the Red Sea) writes in the middle of the 3rd century BCE in Alexandria, and narrates a natural phenomenon as reason for that sea’s apparently odd name, he locates the phenomenon in an area that corresponds to today’s Eastern Yemenite and Western Omani coast.

Point 2

‘A remarkable history that they originated in the same area’: this sentence is meaningless in English. Beyond the poor editing, Mammo Muchie’s text is full of historical distortions.

It is ridiculous to call a wide area full of different origin peoples, varied religions, unrelated (despite the existing exchanges of course) cultures, dissimilar civilizations, separate historical evolution, independent political concepts and practices, disparate languages, distinct scriptures, diverse systems of world conceptualization, autonomous political history, unconnected social-behavioural systems, and strikingly opposite artistic idiosyncrasies as “same area”.

It is unscholarly, erratic, and inane; even if it said for countries, peoples, cultures, religions and civilizations with important affinities and extensive interconnectedness, it sounds pathetic. What if we say that f. i. Assyrians and Phoenicians “originated in the same area”? It would look idiotic; Mesopotamia and the Eastern Mediterranean coast are not ‘the same area’; even worse for as disparate locations as Darfur in Sudan, Oromia, and Ras Hafun in the Somali coast!

The expression - by itself - introduces a concept of vagueness, ambiguity, and inaccuracy; these characteristics are certainly very negative for a scholar. Practically speaking, every ‘area is different, even within the same country!

Point 3

Far worse than just the syntax of Mammo Muchie’s text are the real historical mistakes. What are the forces that shaped the names and the civilizations throughout the erroneously selected countries? The author probably refers to the peoples of those different areas in their historical evolution and their interconnection with others and with themselves.

Conclusively, the forces that shaped civilization and historical developments in Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, ‘Ethiopia’, and Somalia are very, very, very different.

Viewing the aforementioned area diachronically, we immediately identify the following major acting forces:

Kushitic Ethiopians – primary factor of Civilization in Sudan

In Sudan, the Kushites formed, under heavy Egyptian impact, the various stages of Pre-Christian, Christian, and Islamic civilizations. Nilo-Saharan inhabitants of the area, although incessantly present and differentiated, did not have but limited impact in the cultural and political developments.

Although there was a continuous cultural and political interaction between Sudan and Egypt, respectively Kas and Kemet, in their ancient languages that were written in Hieroglyphic scriptures, there was a great part of antipathy, rivalry, impact and friendship at the same time. As Egyptians intermingled with various Semitic peoples (Phoenicians, Aramaeans and Hebrews), Persians, Greeks, Macedonians and Romans, as well as Kushites and Libyans, in later periods of History, Sudan remained more genuinely Kushitic than Egypt. Yet, at its very beginning, 5000 years ago, Egypt was the authentic center of all Kushites.

For the most important phases of civilization in Sudan before the middle of the 1st millennium BCE, the Kerma Kingdom, and the Napatan Kingdom are interludes of Egyptian occupation of Sudan; the latter rises in power at the moment of Egypt’s division into two countries, Upper (South: around Luqsor) and Lower (North: around Delta and more particular Tanis), and by striking an alliance with the Theban priesthood of Amun, it controls a vast empire encompassing the southern half of today’s Egypt, and all the Sudanese North. However, the moment Kushite Pharaoh Taharqa (King of Napata and King of Thebes) prevails in Delta, the Assyrian imperial army invades Egypt in three successive turns (671, 669 and 666 BCE), putting an end to the Kushitic control of Egypt.

If the Assyrians stopped at the area of Aswan and the First Cataract, after destroying Thebes, others advanced far more. Following the invasions led by the Libyan Pharaoh Psamtek (Psammetichus) II (591 BCE) and the Achaemenid Shah of Iran Kamboujiyah (Cambyses. 525 BCE), who had annexed Egypt to Iran, Napata (in the area of today’s Karima) were sacked twice. Then, the capital was transferred further to the South, at today’s Bagrawiyah, which became famous throughout the Late Antiquity world as Meroe, Capital of Ethiopia.

This is the real Ethiopia, not today’s Bogus-‘Ethiopia’, which has to be properly referred to as Abyssinia.

Makkuria – Africa’s Largest, Most Important, and Longest Lasting Christian Kingdom

Following the destruction of Meroe at around 360 – 370 CE, and the depopulation of the country that indicates a massive migration of Meroitic, Kushitic Ethiopian populations alongside the Blue Nile, the Kushitic remnants contribute to the rise of two out of the three Christian states that existed for many centuries on Sudanese soil. At those days, the Nubians formed their first and last independent state that comprised territories immediately in the south of the Roman imperial border of Egypt: Nobatia.

Nobatia’s capital was at Faras, on today’s Egyptian – Sudanese borderline, and the Coptic Patriarchate of Alexandria was the source of doctrine for the Faras Cathedral’s priesthood.

Further in the south, around Donqula Agouza (650 km in the south of Faras), the Kushitic Ethiopians who had adhered to Christianity formed their capital, and in opposition to the Nobatian clergy they associated themselves with the Greek Patriarchate of Alexandria. Their country, Makkuria, has been the most important Christian African Kingdom that later on – to efficiently face the Islamic threat coming from the North (Egypt) – merged with Nobatia, with capital always at Old Donqula (Agouza), and survived until around 1350 BCE.

The same language of the Kushitic Ethiopians of Meroe that was written in Hieroglyphics around 300 CE has been found in Greek characters on mosaics and epigraphic evidence 300 years later.

At this zenith, Makkuria controlled a territory larger than today’s Amhara / Tigray controlled fake ‘Ethiopia’ (the entire North of Sudan, and the South of Egypt, with the exception of the Red Sea coast). One should never forget that although Axumite Abyssinia rose to power as Christian state one century earlier than Makkuria, the Abyssinian kingdom disintegrated following the Islamic expansion in the early 7th century. Axum was abandoned as early as 750 CE (if not earlier). Makkuria lasted twice as long as Christian Axum.

Further in the south of Makkuria, Alodia rose to power around Soba (a few km in the south of Khartoum). We are poorly documented about this, third, Christian Kushitic kingdom of Sudan, but we know that its collapse is due to the expansion of the Muslim Kingdom of Funj as late as 1600.

The various Kushitic migrations to the south of the modern state of Abyssinia signified a later expansion of Kushitic culture in that area that was almost uninhabited before their arrival. By Kushitic migrations, we do not refer only to that occurred in the aftermath of the Axumite invasion of Meroe (360 – 370 CE), but also to the Christian Makkurian migration to Alodia and further in the south during the 14th and the 15th centuries.

South Semitic Yemenites – primary factor of Civilization in Abyssinia

The modern states of Sudan and Abyssinia are technical entities that must be dissolved as soon as possible; they do not correspond but to vicious colonial plans and false identities, fake cultures and oppressive realms. In Abyssinia, the totalitarian monarchical regime carried out an unprecedented scale usurpation of Cultural – National Name and Identity, by stipulating ‘Ethiopia’ as official name of Abyssinia.

If we do not count the oppressed Oromos, Ogadenis, Sidamas, Afars, Shekachos, Kaffas, Gambellas, and other minor nations whose lands have been illegally invaded and thence occupied contrarily to their will, in Abyssinia today live the descendents of the Axumites, the Amharas and the Tigrays.

They are the only peoples among whom radiates the Abyssinian Axumite Heritage of the heretic Monophysitic Christianity. This Heritage does not concern the rest, i.e. the vast majority of that tyrannical state.

Abyssinian Culture: a meager phenomenon of limited radiation

Out of the country’s 1100000 km2 total surface, Abyssinian Heritage and Culture radiate ethnically, linguistically, culturally and religiously over a territory slightly larger than 210000 km2, which corresponds to the area of the two provinces, Amhara and Tigray.

Wherever outside this circumference one may encounter aspects of Abyssinian linguistic, cultural, religious and socio-behavioural radiation, one must consider that this is an imposed radiation, namely the result of illegal and criminal violation of International Law, and Human Rights, and the consequence of the colonial expansion of the anemic and barbaric kingdom of Menelik II.

We cannot afford to let the illegally diffused Abyssinian culture persist throughout non Abyssinian lands; it would signify acceptance of Nazi culture in post-WW II Hungary and Romania.

If we want to appreciate the Abyssinian culture true radius, we have to include part of Eritrea, namely the North, where the Tigrinya and Tigre speaking people live.

However, the factor of this culture that only partly influenced the Kushitic Agaws in later periods is not of indigenous origin; contrarily to the Kushites in today’s Sudan, who have been indigenous since times immemorial, the Abyssinians are outlandish to Africa. They originate from North Yemen where pre-Islamic epigraphic evidence informs us about the Abyssinians’ earliest stages of History, namely the period they were just an oppressed tribe, named Habashat, in the confines between Sheba, Qataban and Himyar.

Their migration across the Bab el Mandeb straits seems to have involved various stages, different generations, and an early expansion in the area of Adulis, around today’s Massawa in Eritrea, and then further on up to Axum. The Axumite kingdom even at its zenith never comprised areas adjacent to lake Tana in its small territory that turned around Massawa, Axum, Danakil and Assab (Avalites).

Even when the heretic, pseudo-Christian king Caleb attempted his ill-fated expedition in Yemen, Axumite Abyssinia did not encompass territories of modern Somalia, Djibouti and Sudan.

King Ezanas’ destruction of Meroe and annexation of less than 20% of Ethiopia’s territory was also a very ephemeral phenomenon.

Kushitic Punt – Diachronic Somalia

Known as Punt already at the times of Egypt’s Middle Kingdom, so for more than 4000 years, Somalia crossed a long and tormented History; Yemenite expansionism, commercial exchanges, and navigational exploits throughout the Indian Ocean brought about the Yemenite colonization of Azania, vast country stretched from the Horn of Africa, Cape Guardafui (Akroterion Aromaton), down to Rhapta (today’s Dar es Salam in Tanzania).

The phenomenon is extensively discussed by the author of the Periplus of the Red Sea, and it is unrelated to modern aspects of 19th – 20th century colonialism; it involved political annexation but there were extensive mixed marriages, and a certain respect for the local cultures, as the Yemenites learned the local language, if they wished to stay there. There was clearly an economic exploitation of natural resources ‘recompensed’ through an export of administration and technical prowess.

Another part of Somalia had already achieved independence in the area between today’s Djibouti and the Horn of Africa, known as ‘The Other Berberia’ (He Alle Berberia, in Greek), with capital at Malao (today’s Berbera).

Somalis seem to have interacted extensively with Yemenites, Indians and Indonesians who sailed on rhapta boats to Dar as Salam, the ancient name of which is precisely due to the frequent rhapta (sewn) boats of the Malays sailing from Chryse (- ‘Golden’, as the Greeks were collectively calling Indochina and Indonesia).

Although for many centuries the Somali trade was an exclusive matter of Yemenite mercantilism, the Roman naval attack on Aden (Arabia Felix) around 26 BCE changed the trade direction, and the Somali coastland products reached many places in the Mediterranean basin, beyond Alexandria. The increased interconnectedness of the entire Eastern African coast with the Mediterranean is attested in Ptolemy Geographer’s works where we have further details about the area that was certainly better known in the 2nd century CE Mediterranean world.

The Roman expedition to explore the sources of the Nile, as narrated by Strabon, seems to have had commercial stimuli, namely the discovery of possible inland routes between Meroe and Azania through areas presently inhabited by Oromos, Shekachos, Kaffas, Sidamas and Gambellas.

After the rise of Christianity, it seems that the area lost some importance comparatively with India and Sri Lanka, and this is highlighted within the famous opus ‘Christian Topography’ of Cosmas Indicopleustes, an Aramaean monk who lived in Alexandria, and traveled as far as India and Taprobane (Sri Lanka). This phenomenon has to do with the Roman – Iranian confrontations that turned Central Asia, India, Yemen, Arabia and Axum into the periphery of a frontal battle that lasted more 400 years, and drove the two opponents to collapse.

Contrarily, the rise of Islam and the Yemenite monopoly in the navigation throughout the Indian Ocean, matched with the isolation and collapse of Axum in the mountains of East Africa, underscored the importance of East African coast due to its natural resources; subsequently, the interactions between the heirs of Azania and the Yemenites, the Egyptians, the Persians, the Indians and the Malays contributed to the further diffusion of Islam in Eastern Africa. Indicative of the interactions, the Yemenite Banaadiris constitute one of the most significant components of the modern Somali national life.

Through all this we come to the conclusion that the forces that shaped Sudan (real Ethiopia) did not shape Somalia, the forces that shaped Abyssinia did not shape Sudan, and the sources that shaped Somalia did not shape either Sudan or Abyssinia. Contrarily to Mammo Muchie’s unqualified statement.

Point 4

“Myth of origin of these entities”! How come! I do not know any specialized (on the History of Sudan, Abyssinia and Somalia) scholar who would seriously call these ancient civilizations ‘entities’. Even worse, there are no ‘myths of origin’ of these peoples, countries or entities, according to Mammo Muchie.

He wants probably to say ‘the historical origins of these civilizations’ but his erratic language reveals a grave case of ignorance and barbarism that disqualify for further consideration.

Point 5

As a matter of fact, there is no historical evidence duly interpreted and fully accepted by modern scholarship that would argue for the “unity and composition” of Sudan, Abyssinia (comically re-baptized as ‘Ethiopia’), Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia “rather than their division and fragmentation”.

There is not a single Meroitic, Makurian, Axumite, Abyssinian, Somali, Yemenite, Arabic, Ancient Egyptian, Ancient Greek, Roman, Persian, Aramaic, Coptic or Sanskrit source to mention anything related to possibly common origins of the peoples of the targeted 5 (five) countries; and there is no historical source to refer to that area as having ever been united or as having the prerequisites and the qualifications for this.

It is all in the falsifying and distorting, unscholarly and uneducated ‘text’ of the forger Mammo Muchie. We will dedicate further articles to refute his numerous aberrations, as we believe that all the tyrannized peoples of Sudan, Eritrea, Somalia, Djibouti and Abyssinia must learn in detail his execrable mistakes, premeditated inconsistencies, and deliberate lies in order to accurately perceive the serious threat against their Peace, Progress, Freedom and Life that forger Mammo Muchie impersonates.

Note

Bas relief from the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el Bahari. The text and the pictures narrate the Expedition to Punt - Somalia (ca. 1480 BCE). We see Puntites, i.e. Somalis living before 3500 years. By then, there was not a single Abyssinian, ancestor of today's Amharas and Tigrays, on African soil. The Habashat tribe of Yemen has limited historicity on African soil - compared to Somalis, Kushites and Egyptians.

Posted by ogadentalk at 09:25:17 | Permanent Link | Comments (1) |

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Ogaden NGO slams Ethiopian govt over U.N. visit

NAIROBI, Sept 19 (Reuters) - A local human rights group accused Ethiopia's government on Wednesday of manipulating a visit by U.N. aid officials and human rights investigators to the country's remote and violent eastern Ogaden region.

Hours before the United Nations was expected to publish its report in New York detailing the mission, the local group said Ethiopian authorities had detained critics for its duration and coached officials to pose as clan elders in U.N. interviews.

The Ogaden Human Rights Committee, which calls itself independent, said in a statement it had long called for a visit by U.N. investigators to the arid region bordering Somalia, but "deplores its inability to visit real crime scenes where gross human rights violations took place".

There was no immediate reaction from Ethiopian officials, who have previously denied manipulating the trip.

Addis Ababa has been waging an unprecedented military crackdown on Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) guerrillas after they killed 74 people in a raid on a Chinese-run oil exploration field earlier this year.

The separatist rebels have accused Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's government of committing "war crimes" in the area, and said the U.N. officials only visited sites sanctioned by the authorities.

Both sides have reported hundreds of deaths and accused the other of terrorising the population. But there has been no independent verification of the claims and counterclaims because the area is effectively off-limits to media and aid workers.

On Wednesday, the Ogaden Human Rights Committee said a number of restrictions had been imposed on the U.N. mission.

Critics were rounded up or threatened in advance of its arrival, the Committee said, while inmates at some crowded jails and police stations were moved to secret detention centres. "(The) government has coached its officials, members of security forces and collaborators and presented them to the U.N. mission as clan elders and victims of ONLF alleged wrongdoing," the Committee said in a statement.

The ONLF rebels are demanding greater autonomy for the ethnically Somali region. Meles denounces them as "terrorists" supported by arch-rival and neighbour Eritrea.

Posted by ogadentalk at 19:51:57 | Permanent Link | Comments (2) |

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Colonial Plans for the Horn of Africa – ‘Ethiopia’ to border with Egypt?

. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis

September 18, 2007

In an earlier article, we highlighted the inconsistence of the purpose for an academic – political – economic Conference focused on the Horn of Africa region, if the Conference consists in a “constructive dialogue amongst civil society groups, scholars, political leaders and business communities from the Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti”.

We explained the reasons for which if Sudan is to be involved, Yemen, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Madagascar should also be included and in absolute terms of priority with respect to Sudan.

Yet, for the sixth time, before a few weeks, the Horn of Africa Conference was held in Lund University, in Sweden, from 23 to 26 August.

In the present article, we will unveil the end target that is hidden behind the magnificent themes selected and speeches pronounced in the ominous conference.

Reportedly, “the theme of the conference was on post-conflict peace-building with the objective of identifying key characteristics and contentious issues with a view to facilitate a communicative rationality to encourage consensus by enabling networking and possible undertaking of future activities by the stakeholders drawn across the regions”.

The conference that announces peace will indeed herald the most ominous wars on African soil

Sudan, ‘Ethiopia’, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia: an irrelevant group

To include under this seemingly benevolent rubrics of this pompous statement Sudan, ‘Ethiopia’, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia – particularly in Fall 2007 – consists in Absurdity Record of All Times.

Sudan

In Sudan, the only area that can be considered as ‘post-conflict’ is the South that already functions as an independent entity, and will be declared and recognized as an Independent state in 2011. Quite contrarily to this, Darfur is an area in ongoing conflict, whereas nearby Kordofan and Beja Land on the Red Sea coast are the next terrain for righteous conflict and rebellion against Khartoum’s ruthless tyrant Al Bashir, who along with Meles Zenawi and Zimbabwe’s Mugabe makes the ‘trio bestiale’ of Africa’s worst carnivorous. Nubia awaits hermetically silent in the North; yet, the time is not far when the Nubians will demand respect for their language, imposing Primary and Secondary Education in Nubian, not Arabic – a most irrelevant and alien language for Africa’s Heart, Sudan.

“Enabling networking” in Sudan? You should be mad to say this to the mercilessly butchered Furis of Darfur, to the long ignored Haussa of Kordofan, to the Nubians and to the marginalized and noble Bejas in the East, whose land - if independent - will help asphyxiate the Khartoum Pan-Arabist gangsters.

The ludicrous Lund University Horn of Africa Conference organizers must have been daydreaming, when fixing such targets with respect to Sudan. The criminal Khartoum regime seems to have comfortably forgotten to pay tolls to the Bejas, when crossing their land to export their recently found Oil to China.

One should expect some nice explosions to start happening in the Wad Madani – Al Gedaref – Kessala – Port Sudan highway. With the Oil blocked, the Khartoum terrorists will have no means to buy arms in order to butcher the various peoples that colonial injustice managed to implacably place under the monstrous Pan-Arabist tutelage.

Somalia

If we shift to the opposite periphery of the malignantly selected group of countries, we find ourselves in Somalia. Comparing situations in Sudan and Somalia, we are met with an extraordinary revelation of the colonial perversity.

In Sudan, the various oppressed African peoples passionately desire to achieve secession from the Pan-Arabist gang of Khartoum and national independence, but the colonial powers for more than 50 years after Sudan’s declaration of Independence (1956) persistently opposed this perspective, causing an extraordinary bloodbath in the South that lasted half a century, and a second merciless butchery at Darfur over the past 5 years.

In Somalia, there are not many peoples; the overwhelming majority are Somalis. In addition, there are some Oromos and some Banaadiris (the latter from Yemen). Despite the existence of various tribes, religious groups and socio-behavioural traditions, the Somalis are one people in the same way the Swedish are one people.

As one could easily imagine, all the Somalis passionately desire to unite and in addition to merge with Somalis who still live in the occupied Ogaden, the Somali province of ‘Ethiopia’, and those who live in Djibouti.

Acting always contrarily to local peoples’ will and desire, the colonial powers caused long time division in Somalia. Italy colonized the Eastern and Southern part, Britain the North (today’s Somaliland), France the extreme North (merging under the French colonial sceptre Afars and Somalis), and Abyssinia the West (the entire Ogaden).

When Somalia gained its independence in 1960, the Somalis realized that with the merge of the British and Italian colonial zones, Somalia was independent only partly. Djibouti was still in French hands and Ogaden lived under the Amhara Abyssinian terror. In addition, Somalis were left within the other East African technical entity, Kenya, which was another part of the British colonial empire in Africa, located immediately in the south of the Italian colony of East Africa.

With the ominous help of the Soviet and Cuban soldiers, the Communist regime of Abyssinia under Dictator Mengistu managed to fend the Somali attack off, and to continue the inhuman Amhara tyranny on Western Somalia, namely Ogaden.

Over the past 17 years, the colonial powers confusing the US foreign policy managed to worsen the division among Somali tribes, with the formation of Somaliland and Puntland in the Northern and North-eastern part of Somalia, whereas the South met the most abhorrent form of civil war, Islamist rule, and last but not least the Ethiopian invasion.

Today, practically speaking, there is no Somalia; instead of an entire conference comically pretending to help materialize grandiose targets that are out of reach, a more modest title and a more accurate focus on Somalia would certainly help realistically. Somalia must unite and will unite; this is the only guarantee for East African Peace.

If the conference organizers had a possibility to correctly perceive the situation, they would realize that Somalia is a present conflict area, and this is true not only because of the illegal intervention of the ‘Ethiopian’ tyrant Zenawi in the South, but also

1.because of the devastation caused in Ogaden by the Abyssinian occupation forces,

2.due to the lack of law in Kenya’s northern territories where a significant part of the population is Somali, and

3.as a consequence of the strife between Somaliland and Puntland.

Djibouti

This country is a technical entity; it belongs partly to Afars (the northern part around Obock), who due to colonial interference have been left without national statehood, being divided among Eritrea, ‘Ethiopia’ and Djibouti. The rest are Somalis (around Djibouti city) and would like to merge with a united Somalia.

Eritrea

Here again, we encounter the same situation as in Somalia; we are not in post-conflict period but in an ongoing war that seems to be temporarily dormant in the front lines but it is fully fledged when it comes to Diplomacy.

Eritrea supports various groups in Somalia in full disturbance of the Abyssinian dictator Zenawi.

Eritrean President Issaias Afeworki’s poor Human Rights and Development record cannot by definition help him form a stronger position in a geo-strategically critical location.

He gets involved in Sudan’s East because of the fear of an emerging Beja Republic that would mobilize Eritrea’s numerous Bejas; the Bejas denounce the controversial Eritrean president’s interference.

On the other hand, numerous Oromo (and not only) intellectuals and activists from Abyssinia reject Afeworki’s semi-paranoid position in favour of Abyssinia’s unity.

Perspicacious analysts assess the stance in very bleak terms, letting us expect the worst (Politics Makes Strange Bedfellows: Isaias Afeworki Pandering to CUDP? - http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=37755)

Probably, the Eritrean president would support unity for the so-called Ethiopia until the moment a Somali army would finally cut Ogaden off, triggering the most desired demise of the cursed tyranny; however, the methods are immoral, the tactics do not herald anything ingenious, and without some substantial help from abroad (Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran, Libya, etc), Afeworki’s presidency would last some days.

Meanwhile, Eritrea remains poor, underdeveloped, isolated and fade. Issaias Afeworki should think times and again over questions like the following:

- If you have only one university in your country, why close it down?

- Who succeeded in this world after being considered as the most inauspicious country for free expression of speech and journalism?

We are left with another question to answer:

- Is it just poor branding of the new country that had crated so many expectations in the early 90s?

‘Ethiopia’ – the World’s most Inhuman and most Murderous Tyranny

This name is false, forged and fallacious; the real country’s name is Abyssinia. Well, in this case, we are face to face with the focus of East African evil.

With fake ‘Ethiopia’ we are not in post-conflict situation, and we are not just in a war environment due to the land dispute with Eritrea, and to the ill-fated military intervention in the Somali South.

In the case of ‘Ethiopia’, we are in front of the world’s most explosive pre-war situation, in terms of at least 7 pending national rebellions that within shortly will turn Zenawi’s dictatorial abode into an omni-burning Hell for the cruel Amhara and Tigray oppressors.

Ogadenis, Oromos, Sidamas, Afars, Kaffas, Shekachos, and Gambellas realize that when hundreds of millions of dollars are spent in their impoverished country for the pathetic, erratic and counterfeit Millennium of the Amhara and Tigray heretic pseudo-Christians, at a moment the entire population is starving, being totally deprived of their natural resources, wealth, properties, and Human Rights, nothing is left to them except the rebellion against the inhuman and barbaric Amhara and Tigray invaders of their countries.

Conclusions

Even if all the other targeted countries were correctly focused on by the organizers of the Horn of Africa Conference that was held in Lund University, ‘Ethiopia’ should be excluded.

And no Amhara and Tigray politician, academic and businessman among them should be invited before publicly denouncing the colonial plans, tactics, deeds and inhuman practices of the successive Amhara and Tigray Abyssinian regimes.

However, as this did not happen, and the organizers seem to methodically pursue their plans, following their agendas, we have to enquire about their true motives.

What is hidden behind the Horn of Africa Conference (Lund University)?

Having analyzed that, in order to set a correct scope to the Horn of Africa Conference, one should have included many other countries that have been excluded, and having analyzed that nothing allows us to think of a possible combination of interests of the peoples and nations involved in the Conference, we consider the following points as regards the intentions of the conference organizers:

1. There has finally been an agreement among various establishments throughout the world for the final splitting of Sudan. That country will not exist within a few years, when a certain number of states will occupy its present territory, involving South Sudan, Darfur, Kordofan, Nubia, Beja and Central Sudan.

2. Djibouti is too small to possibly consider.

3. Somalia is partly invaded by ‘Ethiopia’, whereas secessionist states on Somali territory, Somaliland and Puntland, have established a cooperation with the ‘Ethiopian’ tyranny, more particularly the former, offering harbour facilities to landlocked ‘Ethiopia’ (Berbera).

4. Eritrea has been in an interminable war with ‘Ethiopia’, which seems to have consolidated both minority regimes in the respective countries.

5. To survive, tyrannical ‘Ethiopia’ needs more resources to exploit; with Sudan decomposed over the next three years, Ethiopia appears to be the only major country among those studied in the conference.

Any bilateral relationship (Djibouti – Ethiopia, Eritrea – Ethiopia, Somalia – Ethiopia) would consolidate Africa’s most repugnant and loathsome tyranny. The same would happen if representatives of the various peoples and states that will emanate out of Sudan’s decomposition come to cooperate with ‘Ethiopia’, as the conference preaches so fervently.

6. It becomes therefore clear that the Horn of Africa Conference, through the bias of “constructive dialogue amongst civil society groups, scholars, political leaders and business communities” intends to produce the articulations on which to set a further expansion of the bogus-‘Ethiopian’ tyranny that, according to the secretive plans of the organizers, would stretch from the borders of Egypt to the borders of Kenya, incorporating South Sudan’s Christian populations as a counterweight to the Muslim Bejas and Nubians.

Quite apparently now, the presence (inclusion in the conference) of Yemen, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Madagascar would disturb and/or divert the ominous plans; that is why these countries that had to be included have been excluded in a non-academic way.

7. The scenario sets the scene for an apocalyptic war between Libya, bogus-Ethiopia’ and Egypt that would explode the entire Black Continent and the Eastern Mediterranean, involving at the same time Europe, Russia, and the US.

That is why the ultimate and imminent dissolution of the inhuman tyranny ‘Ethiopia’ becomes top urgency for its oppressed nations and peoples.

Any country in the world that would wish to avoid an East Africa explosion should help by all possible means the long tyrannized Ogadenis, Oromos, Sidamas, Afars, Kaffas, Shekachos, and Gambellas tear down the most anachronistic and dysfunctional tyranny of the world.

In a forthcoming article, we will provide evidence about the secretive targets of the conference organizers, as they speak openly about them in the world press.

Note

The spectrum of King Ahmed Ibn Ibrahim pursues the Amharas and the Tigrays in their panic that is expressed in the deeds of the cruelest African tyranny; and all this is effectively manipulated by the European colonial powers to the absolute disaster of numerous African peoples.

Posted by ogadentalk at 20:13:30 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Plethora of Reasons Why No ‘Millennium’ Celebrations in the Ogaden

By Saafi (Hoodo) Labafidhin

After seeing the title of this terse essay you may think you know the reasons why Ogaden Somalis are not celebrating the ‘Ethiopian Millennium’. You may probably have already guessed dozen tragedies such as war, poverty, underdevelopment, poor infrastructure, and the latest Tigrian People Liberation Front, TPLF, crackdown associated with Ogaden, the land and the people. Poverty although more prevalent in Ogaden is everywhere in Ethiopia, even in the birthplace of Legesse Zenawi, the current head of the Ethiopian autocracy.

In Ogaden though, there are other unique and underlining reasons for Ogaden Somalis not to be in celebratory mood at a time when the rest of Ethiopia is indulging in parties. It is these underlying and unique reasons that explain why Ogaden Somalis are not, have not been and will not be part of the present day Ethiopia or the old Abyssinia.

Coptic Millennium

Overwhelming majority of the Somali people in the Ogaden are Sunni Muslims and have been using the Islamic Hijra Calendar with Hijra months slightly modified with Somali Names (such as Soon, Soonfur, Sidataal, Arafo etc). Besides, the land has been under long and successive brutal colonial powers, Namely the British, Italians and present day Ethiopia, and as a result the land and people have hardly witnesses any progress throughout the past century. Consequently, the proud and lofty nomadic pastoralists
make the bulk of the population.

For them, pastoralists, there are only two times worthy of celebration throughout the Muslim calendar namely: Eidul Fitr and Eidul Adha. For the minority of Ogaden Somalis who were somehow able to live in bigger towns with other Ethiopian highlanders, they, minority, could not swallow the ‘Amete Mihret’ ceteris paribus. If one were to behave like Ethiopians (again other things being equal), one would see that the Ethiopian calendar
has two abbreviated Amharic words A.M (also official) meaning ‘the year of forgiving’ according to the Christian belief. One will thus understand why as Muslims, the Ogaden Somalis, cannot solemnize the Church based Coptic Millennium!

Gregorian Calendar more Popular among Somalis in the Ogaden.

Though similar to the above in some aspects, the Gregorian calendar enjoys much eminence throughout the world and is adopted by many Islamic nations as a second (or first) calendar. On the eve of 2000, seven years ago, I remember when a group of Somali youth (both girls and boys) gathered in a remote village in the Ogaden to welcome the new Gregorian Millennium by discussing the fate and future of our disregarded pastoralists.

Even illiterate camel boys (geeljire) were familiar with the event and were eager to share their Camel Milk with us to welcome the commencement of the new millennia. One of the girls jested if a camel man among us knew Ethiopian calendar to which he replied ‘the only thing I know about Ethiopia is their hostile soldiers!!’ others questioned if Ethiopia had its own calendar. Generally almost all Ogaden Somalis know the Gregorian year and use it alongside the Traditional Islamic calendar while most of them are not familiar with the Ethiopian year and months let alone the use it. It boils down to the fact that Ogaden Somalis have already celebrated the Millennium with the rest of the world and don’t need to be part of an imitation they are not part of and never been part of.

‘African Millennium!!’

In a its widely publicized hoopla to promote the ‘new millennium, the TPLF claimed that this, new millennium, was not only Ethiopian millennium but also must be celebrated as Africa’s 2000 millenary celebrations. Ironically, many AU members, majority of which include pro-Rastafarian groups, were misled by the Ethiopia’s claim and unfortunately thought the ‘Millennium’ as ‘Unique African Occasion!’ A Nigeria based newspaper wrote
the following:

Ethiopia is being the only African country having its own calendar and the African Union (AU) in its ordinary session of the Assembly of Heads of State and government through declaration AU/ December 6 (Vii) adopted Ethiopian millennium as an historic African occasion.

One needs to critically pose the question why Ethiopia is comparable to African pride and reputation when it is notorious for being the only African ‘country’ that participated in the Berlin Conference and took part in the so called Scramble for Africa in 1880s.

According to Gann and Duignan (1981) the modern Ethiopian empire state was created by the conquest of emperor Menelik II of the Shewa Amhara dynasty (1889-1913). They continue to say ‘’Menelik was the only successful black African partner in the ‘scramble for Africa’ designed by the European powers in the Berlin Conference of 1884-5.’’

It is well documented in the history books that the only reason Menelik was allowed to rule Abyssinian land was to check the advancement of the Dervishes led by Sayyid Muhammad Abdille Hassan who was waging a highly successful gorilla war against the British and Italian colonizers of the time.

Menilik was pleased to accept the colonial condition, which was that he would not be colonized provided that he accepts the result of Berlin Conference, and at the same time engaged in the war against what the British conquerors termed the ‘Mad Mullah’ Movement.

Since we are the victims of that conference and its aftermath and have lon suffered under oppressive black (Ethiopian) colonization, we can’t be enticed by TPLF’s Pan African ‘Millennium’ allurement.

Last but not the least, the people of Ogaden are facing a great colonial burden as this article is penned. Extra judicial killings continue, the number of villages burned every day is increasing, many people are fleeing to neighbouring countries across the border, and more recently the elite and well-off section of Ogaden people living in bigger towns such as Dire Dawa, Harar and Addis Ababa were apprehended in greater numbers and encountered indescribable atrocities in the hands of the Ethiopian mafia which were supposed to engage all in party mood for the so-called millennium celebration. All in all, the ‘Millennium’ is another Minim Yelem (There is nothing) for the people of Ogaden and there is nothing to celebrate until Ogaden Somalis are freed from TPLF instigated terror and oppression.

Saafi (Hoodo) Labafidhin
labafidhin@yahoo.com

References:

The Tide (http://www.thetidenews.com): Rastafarians celebrate Ethiopian
millennium in Rivers, Tuesday Saturday, Sep 8, 2007

L.H Gann and Peter Duignan (1981) Why South Africa Will Survive: A
Historical Analysis.

Posted by ogadentalk at 10:10:02 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Rebels say continuing war crimes in Ogaden, cause civilian displacement

Rebels say continuing war crimes in Ogaden, cause civilian displacement
Thursday 13 September 2007
Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF)

O.N.L.F Statement On Civilian Displacement & Continuing War Crimes In Ogaden

September 13, 2007 — The Ethiopian regimes war crimes in Ogaden have resulted in thousands of civilians seeking refuge in parts of neighboring Somalia with limited food, medical aid and financial resources over the last four months. These victims of the regimes war crimes have include victims of rape, torture, gunshot wounds and those fleeing burnt villages. These fleeing civilians provide the best testimony of the policy of collective punishment being pursued by the Ethiopian regime in Ogaden.

The plight of these families shows the world that despite the regimes denials, war crimes continue in Ogaden. It is clear that the Ethiopian regimes policy in Ogaden continues to be a campaign of State sponsored terror that largely avoids engagements with ONLF forces and instead focuses on collectively punishing our civilian population.

We call on donor nations to bear pressure on the Ethiopian regime to end its brutal campaign against our civilian population and allow international journalists and humanitarian organizations to travel and operate freely in Ogaden. If this regime has nothing to hide in Ogaden there is no reason why it should continue to ban international journalists and reputable humanitarian organizations such as the ICRC from operating and traveling freely in Ogaden.

We further call on the United Nations in particular to come to the immediate aid of our forcefully displaced people seeking refuge in neighboring Somalia. The United Nations bears a particular responsibility to thoroughly investigate war crimes in Ogaden and halt the unfolding of yet another preventable African genocide . To do this, the United Nations must have access to all parts of Ogaden and not be limited to routes approved by the regime as was the case with the recent UN Fact Finding Mission.

Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF)

Rebels say continuing war crimes in Ogaden, cause civilian displacement Sudan Tribune

Posted by ogadentalk at 15:26:36 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Ethiopia: Ogaden Leaders Accuse Govt of 'Genocide'

Ethiopia: Ogaden Leaders Accuse Govt of 'Genocide'

allAfrica.com

13 September 2007

Brian Kennedy
Washington, D.C.

Leaders of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (OLNF), a rebel group fighting against the Ethiopian government, have accused the Ethiopian army of committing crimes "tantamount to genocide."

Responding to a claim made by the government that the ONLF is a terrorist organization, the front's chairman, Mohamed Osman, told allAfrica in an interview: "The real terrorists are the Ethiopian government."

Osman and the ONLF's foreign relations secretary, Abdirahman Mahdi, spoke to allAfrica's Washington, D.C. office this week. They were visiting the United States to meet with members of the diaspora, non-governmental organizations, and lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

The armed wing of the ONLF has been fighting for self-determination, and against the current government in the Ethiopian state of Somali, since 1993.

Osman and Mahdi said Ethiopia's army is committing widespread war crimes, including destroying over 100 villages and lynching over 30 people, in the Ogaden region in the east of Ethiopia.

They also said that a recent United Nations mission sent to the Ogaden did not receive complete access; they contend that the UN mission was not allowed to visit the Doollo and Fik regions, the areas where the worst atrocities have been committed.

Additionally, they allege that before the mission went to the region, opponents of the Ethiopian government were rounded up, arrested and sent to military camps. The United Nations mission is expected to release its report later this week.

"We challenge the government to allow independent observers," Madhi said. "Democracy does not bar information."

The Ethiopian government has repeatedly denied charges of rights abuses in the Ogaden, claiming that the reports are lies and propaganda spread by its enemies.

The crisis in Ogaden has escalated in recent months. In April, the ONLF attacked a Chinese oil site in the region, killing 77 people, including nine Chinese oil workers. Asked about the attack, Osman said "the exploration [for oil] was not a civilian operation. It was a military garrison." He also said that he was "sad" that the Chinese were caught in the middle.

Observers were surprised that the OLNF was able to carry out such a daring attack, and many suggest that Ethiopian troop cuts in the Ogaden since the invasion of Somalia have given the ONLF a window of opportunity.

After the attack on the Chinese oil site and a string of other ONLF attacks in the region, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi announced on June 9 that the Ethiopian military was starting a "political and military operation" to contain ONLF activities.

In July, a Human Rights Watch statement accused the government of widespread rights abuses. "Ethiopian troops are destroying villages and property, confiscating livestock and forcing civilians to relocate," said Peter Takirambudde, Africa director of Human Rights Watch. "Whatever the military strategy, these abuses violate the laws of war."

In the same statement, Human Rights Watch said that the ONLF targets civilians in their attacks. The OLNF representatives denied the charges during the interview. They acknowledged that civilians sometimes die, but contended that the government had armed civilians and said Human Rights Watch does not have full information.

The OLNF representatives also addressed charges that the ONLF had stolen food aid in the past. Mahdi said local people had given them the food. He also contended that a government-enforced blockade has "stopped cross-border trade" in most of the region. Observers estimate that food prices have doubled or tripled in the region because of the blockade.

Many analysts say that the conflict in the Ogaden is closely linked to the wider conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Mahdi acknowledged that the OLNF received "political sympathy" from the Eritrean government and others in the region, but said it received no military aid from Eritrea.

The ONLF representatives said that they are open to talks with the Ethiopian government, providing the talks have a neutral, third-party facilitator, and take place at a neutral venue. They said that they would welcome the United States playing a role.

Posted by ogadentalk at 15:18:04 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Ethiopian rebels warn "African genocide" unfolding in Ogaden

NAIROBI (AFP) — Ethiopian rebels on Thursday urged the world to bring an end to an army crackdown in the restive Ogaden region, warning that another "African genocide" is unfolding.

The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) said thousands of displaced civilians had fled to neighbouring Somalia without food and medicine over the past four months.

"We call on donor nations to bear pressure on the Ethiopian regime to end its brutal campaign against our civilian population and allow international journalists and humanitarian organisations to travel and operate freely in Ogaden," ONLF said in a statement.

"The United Nations bears a particular responsibility to thoroughly investigate war crimes in Ogaden and halt the unfolding of yet another preventable African genocide."

In addition, the rebels called on the UN to deliver humanitarian supplies to fleeing civilians, some from razed villages and a number of whom are victims of rape, torture and gunshot wounds.

"These fleeing civilians provide the best testimony of the policy of collective punishment being pursued by the Ethiopian regime in Ogaden," the statement added.

"The plight of these families shows the world that despite the regimes denials, war crimes continue in Ogaden."

The Ethiopian military launched a crackdown on the region, which is slightly smaller than Britain and has a population of about four million, following an attack by the ONLF rebel group against a Chinese oil venture that left 77 people dead.

UN humanitarian chief John Holmes last week denounced Addis Ababa's decision to expel two global charities -- the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and International Committee for the Red Cross -- from the area.

Predominantly barren, the Ogaden has long been extremely poor, but in recent years the discovery of gas and oil has brought both hopes of wealth, and new causes of conflict.

Ethiopian authorities have accused arch foe Eritrea of supporting the Ogaden separatists. The Eritreans have denied the accusation.

Formed in 1984, the ONLF is fighting for the independence of ethnic Somalis in Ogaden, who they say have been marginalised by Addis Ababa.

Posted by ogadentalk at 15:13:23 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

O.N.L.F Statement On Civilian Displacement & Continuing War Crimes In Ogaden

The Ethiopian regimes war crimes in Ogaden have resulted in thousands of civilians seeking refuge in parts of neighboring Somalia with limited food, medical aid and financial resources over the last four months. These victims of the regimes war crimes have include victims of rape, torture, gunshot wounds and those fleeing burnt villages. These fleeing civilians provide the best testimony of the policy of collective punishment being pursued by the Ethiopian regime in Ogaden.

The plight of these families shows the world that despite the regimes denials, war crimes continue in Ogaden. It is clear that the Ethiopian regimes policy in Ogaden continues to be a campaign of State sponsored terror that largely avoids engagements with ONLF forces and instead focuses on collectively punishing our civilian population.

We call on donor nations to bear pressure on the Ethiopian regime to end its brutal campaign against our civilian population and allow international journalists and humanitarian organizations to travel and operate freely in Ogaden. If this regime has nothing to hide in Ogaden there is no reason why it should continue to ban international journalists and reputable humanitarian organizations such as the ICRC from operating and traveling freely in Ogaden.

We further call on the United Nations in particular to come to the immediate aid of our forcefully displaced people seeking refuge in neighboring Somalia. The United Nations bears a particular responsibility to thoroughly investigate war crimes in Ogaden and halt the unfolding of yet another preventable African genocide . To do this, the United Nations must have access to all parts of Ogaden and not be limited to routes approved by the regime as was the case with the recent UN Fact Finding Mission.

Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF)e the impact of the violence on the civilian population, but it has not yet made its conclusions public.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hilaRGsP9to6YEhY_GQWAjFe4ElA

Posted by ogadentalk at 15:10:50 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

HEADLINE: Human rights in Horn of Africa

HEADLINE: Human rights in Horn of Africa

SECTION: LETTERS; Pg. 17

LENGTH: 133 words

BODY:

Madam, - Some of your correspondents are commendably concerned about Darfur, yet at least that crisis appears on the political agenda of the "international community" - i.e. the West.

Contrast the West's sickening silence in the face of further horrors in the Horn of Africa - viz, the Ogaden zone of conflict. According to Human Rights Watch, Ethiopian forces have followed a scorched-earth policy, displacing innumerable impoverished civilians, torching their villages and food stocks and mounting a blockade to halt vital medical supplies.

Yet one waits in vain for any word of repudiation from the "international community". For the Ethiopian regime receives unconditional support from American and Europe. Hence the humbug. - Yours, etc,

J.A. BARNWELL,

St Patrick's Road,

Dublin 9.

September 12, 2007
Copyright 2007 The Irish Times
All Rights Reserved
The Irish Times