we talk about ogaden and the horn of Africa!

. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis

 

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.

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!

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.

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.

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

11 September 2007, Washington, DC -- Ethiopia and Eritrea are again trading accusations over a failure to settle their nine-year-old border dispute. Last week at the Hague, the commission adjudicating the disagreement said it intends to finalize coordinates of the borders by November if the sides remain deadlocked. VOA Reporter Peter Heinlein in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa attended a news briefing yesterday with Ethiopia’s Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin in which the foreign ministry said it would not accept a boundary drawn up by the border commission. Heinlein says the lack of agreement between the two sides underscores one of many sources of tension involving the two Horn of Africa countries.

“In some cases, the two sides are only 70 to 80 meters apart, separated only by in some cases dry river beds. So he (Foreign Minister Seyoum) was quite concerned that many people at the news conference felt it might be more than posturing. But when he was asked whether this could mean we were back to square one, a de facto state of war, he said, ‘Ethiopia does not want war.’ On the other hand he said, ‘Peace needs two partners.’ And he certainly indicated that Eritrea at this point, in the minds of the Ethiopian government, is not a suitable partner for peace,” said Heinlein.

Last weekend, during a visit to the Ethiopian capital, the top US diplomat for Africa, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer, called on Horn of Africa leaders to do more to ease tensions in the region. Reporter Heinlein says other sources of Horn of Africa tensions that came up during Frazer’s discussions included the dispute over Ethiopia’s Ogaden region, and the rivalry with Eritrea over arming opposing sides in the war for Somalia. The US diplomat said it is not yet clear why aid agencies and humanitarian workers have been denied access to victims of violence in the Ogaden. But Heinlein says Frazer accused rebels in the Ogaden of having links to warring factions in neighboring Somalia and she singled out Eritrea for undermining stability in both Somalia and the Ogaden.

“She certainly did imply, if not directly point to Eritrea as an irritant in the region. She made a pretty stern warning to Eritrea that they could easily wind up on a list of state-sponsors of terrorism if they don’t quickly mend their ways,” he pointed out.

Heinlein notes with a sense of irony and some surprise that with Ethiopians busy welcoming the arrival Wednesday of the country’s Third Millennium anniversary, they have barely taken note of today’s sixth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 al Qaida attacks on the US Pentagon and New York City’s World Trade Center. But the Addis Ababa-based journalist says American troops stationed in the Horn of Africa are fully alert to the longstanding threats of international terrorism in the region where they are based.

“In all my talks with the Foreign Minister, the government spokesman (Bereket Simon), and the man in the street (yesterday), I haven’t heard a single reference to 9-11. I think it certainly plays on the Americans’ minds and the American troops in the region, at the base in Djibouti, for instance, are very much concerned about the influence of al Qaida and pro-al Qaida factions in Somalia. There’s also a concern about Eritrea possibly harboring terrorists, so certainly there’s a concern about that. But it’s interesting that here in the Horn of Africa, 9-11 is an awfully distant concept,” noted Heinlein.

- By Howard Lesser

Source: VOANews.com