Rebels in Ethiopia’s eastern Ogaden region have accused the government of killing 71 civilians in a military operation since May 18.
The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), which says it is fighting for autonomy for ethnic Somalis in the region on the border with Somalia, said the operation against them started on May 18.
It said in a statement on Friday that the offensive was launched in retaliation for a raid during which ONLF claimed to have captured a town previously controlled by the government.
“The Ethiopian army Meles Zenawi’s forces combed the countryside, summarily executing men in front of their families while beating, raping or killing the women,” the ONFL statement said.
“The ruthless troops have so far massacred 71 innocent civilians with impunity while wounding and torturing hundreds.”
The Ethiopian government ruling Woyanne junta denied the accusations.
“We are still gathering information about these accusations, but so far we can say they are entirely baseless,” Shimeles Kemal, an Ethiopian government Woyanne spokesman, said.
He denied that military operations were taking place in the Ogaden area.
Claims from either side are almost impossible to verify, as journalists and aid groups cannot travel in the poverty-stricken region without a government escort.
The conflict has taken on new significance since international petroleum companies began searching for oil and gas in the area.
In April, a British geologist working for a subcontractor of Petronas, a Malaysian oil giant, was shot dead there.
(Source: Al Jazeera)
4 thoughts on “Meles Zenawi’s forces massacred 71 civilians in Ogaden”
Every opposition of TPLF should expect such kind of ruthless behavior. This is not unique to TPLF. Racist, chauvinists and trigger-happy groups who at the service of the West, will do more atrocities than we can imagine and can still get away. When they are hit, they hit harder and harsher with enormous brutality and savagery to the people of the fighters.
The Trigrians are the pure and God picked race for the West to monitor North East Africa. They and the gangs are enjoying the fruits of their servitude to the West without reprisal. Look around the world! Armed fronts are not immune from destruction as it happened to EPRA in Ethiopia decades ago or Tamil Tigers of Sirilanka in 2009. ONLF, OLF or other oppositions with arms can have such fates just as TPLF can have the same fate as Derge. Every opposition should thoroughly examine all aspect of it: its goals, strategies, structure, relations with other oppositions and tactics. It should seek ways of forming an alliance to emerge as an alternative force and hasten the down fall of TPLF.
Oppositions (with or without arms) should understand these facts, accommodate their differences, and work to bring the junta down instead of condemning and calling names of the other. I do not believe in the one best way, mine is the only way philosophy and such stand won’t help anyone except TPLF. Every opposition should work to narrow their differences, appreciate and respect the differences that could not be resolved and move on together to put down the common enemy.
It is only when we can form such strong and formidable alliance that the West would start considering us as useful, reliable, and viable political force and partner with mature and astute leadership for the county and the region.
This masscares will be more then 71 people tommorow and we must defended our people now.We have no time..
This Massacres took place in two areas last week in Bambaas and malaqa after the Woyanne base was taken by the ONLF and TPLF suffered heavy loses.They went on a rampage killing villagers and nomads.Shimeles Kemal and Bereket Simon are shamless liars-just like their boss.Their brutality is not going to deter the Ogadenis in their fight for their freedom and full human rights.
Ethiopian Refugees living in the Fargo-Moorhead area are trying to draw attention to what they say is genocide happening in their home country of Ethiopia.
A documentary film about the war, called “Silent Cry,” is showing Wednesday evening at North Dakota State University in Fargo.
Violence is familiar to the people of Ogaden, a small area originally part of Somalia, but given to Ethiopia after World War II. The area has been caught in conflict between the two countries for 50 years.
Abdi Karim Rabi, a college student in Moorhead, fled Ogaden with his family when he was 12. He said he vividly remembers an incident in his village when soldiers killed four young men.
.”I thought the thing that was happening in my homeland was happening everywhere around the world,” the man said. “Today, I realize it’s not everywhere; it’s in the Ogaden.”
He said aid agencies have been forced out of the area by soldiers. He believes the native Somali people are being systematically killed to clear the way for exploration of oil reserves in the region.
He said family members in Ogaden are not allowed to travel or even raise the crops they need to survive.
“They are just torturing people and killing and doing whatever they want and there is nobody stopping them,” he said. “I’m asking the world to do something about this.”
The documentary shows this Wednesday at 5 p.m. in the Alumni Center at North Dakota State University, and April 30th at 4 p.m. in Anderson Hall at the University of Minnesota.