ONLF says Ethiopian Govt lying about Ogaden situation

Published 05/07/2010 - 1:18 a.m. GMT

The Ethiopian regime, has of late, gone to great lengths in its attempts to divert attention from the defeat and utter failure in its military campaign against the ONLF and to convey the impression that it has made significant military gains in Ogaden and is on the brink of accommodating the spent force of Al-Itihad Al- Islami in the Ogaden which it claims had submitted to its conditions.

It is doing this by advancing the notion that the over publicized capitulation and return of the defunct Al Itihad Al Islami (AIAI), aka United Western Somali Liberation Front (UWSLF) officials to their handlers in Addis Ababa, constitutes the cessation of hostilities in Ogaden. This despite the fact that AIAI has not effectively operated in Ogaden for over 15 years and elements of AIAI have cooperated with Ethiopian security agents for years in a carefully crafted perception management exercise aimed at facilitating the regimes efforts to secure external security support.

To further enhance its deception, the regime is claiming that the defunct leaders of Al Itihad Al Islami and elements of ONLF are holding a congress in the Ogaden and after that the Ethiopian regime will then negotiate with both groups in order to accommodate them so that they could participate in the coming “elections”. The Ethiopian regime of Meles Zenawi is undertaking this whole exercise because it is so desperate to get an aura of legitimacy by claiming that the people in the Ogaden as well as other parts of Ethiopia are participating in its bogus elections. Hence the mad rush to collect all riff raff’s in order to claim That ONLF and others had participated in the upcoming elections. This shortsighted act will only exacerbate the conflict in the Horn of Africa by a providing platform for religious opportunists to gain a foothold in areas previously inaccessible to their designs, both in the Ogaden and other parts of Ethiopia, while blocking any chance of peace in the Ogaden.

Despite Ethiopia’s shenanigans, the fact of the matter is that the Ogaden conflict remains unsettled and Ogaden remains very much a conflict zone. Ethiopia is committing systematic abuse of Human Rights and War Crimes in the Ogaden and the Ogaden people have no desire or interest to participate in its bogus elections. Therefore claiming that 2.7 million people had registered for voting in a population Ethiopia claims to be only four million or collecting opportunists’ masqueraded as ONLF or other failed organisations is an exercise in futility and will not dupe the international community.

Despite ONLF principled believe in solving the conflict peacefully through an internationally brokered mechanism that will lead to a comprehensive, just, and lasting settlement to the Ogaden conflict , still it is obvious that Ethiopia is not willing to engage in any meaningful negotiations, therefore the Ogaden National Liberation Front will continue its protracted national liberation struggle until the rights of the Ogaden Somali people to self-determination through a referendum is realized.

• The Ogaden National Liberation Front