UN « we talk about ogaden and the horn of Africa!

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) |

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.