Somalia: Ethiopia Denies as Massacre Continues in Ogaden

Addis Ababa, (RBC Radio) Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi denied the intensification of fighting in the Ogaden region occupied recently, but stressed that civilians are subjected to a massacre at the hands of occupying troops.

Zenawi claimed in a news conference in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian occupation government spent billions of national currency in the Ogaden, to finance development projects of infrastructure from roads to electricity, although these projects can become easy targets for insurgents in the Ogaden National Liberation Front Ogaden ONLF.

The French newspaper Liberation has revealed earlier, the destruction of villages and displacement of citizens and cases of rape and assassinations practiced by the Ethiopian occupation army in the Ogaden region of the predominantly Muslim east of the country for more than a year.

The paper said “Addis Ababa began military operations against ONLF in June 2007 after an attack on the station for the exploitation of oil has killed 74 people including a number of Chinese”.

The international media and human rights organizations had published various reports on the tragic situation of the people of this region, but Ethiopia insists on repeating the same phrase: “These reports are baseless.”

The American scientific research institute called the “Association of Advance of Science” has reported that satellite images that have emerged recently demonstrated the validity of the reports confirmed that the Ethiopian army burned the towns and entire villages in the Ogaden region located to the east of Ethiopia.

ONLF, established in 1984 demands for the autonomy of this region, and claimed responsibility for several attacks since the beginning of 2007.

The ONLF started since 2007 to carry out attacks aimed at the quality of the Ethiopian occupation forces in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia, which the government considers region under the new federal system followed by the country after a coup against the Mengistu regime, and Meles Zenawi to power.

The area of the Ogaden region at least about 400 thousand square kilometers, live nearly eight million people, mainly Muslims.