Ethiopia releases hundreds of jailed ONLF rebels

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle
January 15, 2011 (ADDIS ABABA) – The Ethiopian government this week freed 402 leaders and members of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), country’s most active rebel movement, which has been fighting for the right of the eastern Somali region to secede since 1984, Sudan Tribune has learnt.

Map showing Ogaden region of Ethiopia

Upon their release, the president of Ethiopia’s Somali region, Abdi Mohamed Omur, said the move is based on the peace accord signed between ONLF and the Ethiopian government.
Last October, Salahdin Abdulrahman led a breakaway group of ONLF which claims to be the main body of the rebel movement and signed a peace accord with the Ethiopian government to end the rebel’s decades of insurgency.
During the occasion Ethiopia’s state prison commissioner Abdi Bedi Ousman said the human rights of the prisoners had been respected as per the constitution of the country during their prison terms.
The commissioner said following the peace deal most of the jailed rebel members have been released and those freed earlier are already actively engaged in the development activities of the region.Read More