we talk about ogaden and the horn of Africa!

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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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