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From modest
beginning to an Online media power house |
On May 19th,
1998, Ogaden Online was borne from a dream
of wanting to create an outlet to relay news
from Ogaden to the community in the
Diaspora. Very few of those who were the
pillars of the creation of this website,
have an inkling that Ogaden Online will one
day reach the stage where it is now. It is
now an outlet of news for people from all
walks of life. It is a news source for
policy makers from powerful nations; bean
writers in search of a readily available
news source; and to the ordinary folks who
are interested in hearing view other than
what is spewed by the Ethiopian
misinformation ministry and its cohorts.
Ogaden Online is not only one of the most up
to the minute updated websites on the
Internet but it is also one of the most
visited news sites on the World Wide Web. A
testament to the Ogaden Online popularity is
the two million and half monthly unique
visitors to the website. Ogaden Online
website is now listed on Google news daily.
It is also the authoritative source of
original news both in English and Somali,
among others, for the
World News
Connection, a publication
compiled and distributed by the National
Technical Information Service, US Department
of Commerce.
Many things amaze those who have been part
of the success Ogaden Online and Ogaden
online news website. We might have been
blamed foolhardiness were we to predict that
visitors from Ethiopia would top the list of
the daily unique visitors to the website.
However the reality is that in two
consecutive months i.e. February and March
this year, visitors from Ethiopia specially
from cities such Maqale, Addis Ababa,
Diredaba, and Jigjiga topped the list of the
daily stream of visitors to Ogaden Online
and Ogaden Online news website.
What is unique about the access from
Ethiopia is the fact that this is a country
where internet access is a luxury very few
people can afford. Dial up internet is still
the royal means of access to the World Wide
Web. It is a country where access to this
website or any other site other than government
sanctioned sites might land someone in jail
or worse in Tigrey torture camps. Still people,
some of whom we suspect are the regime heads
in Addis Ababa, still stream to sample the
news from this website daily.
Ogaden Online has come a long way from its
infancy when it only had presence by way of
a registered domain on the WWW. It has come
a long way from the days when it was hardly
updated. It has come millions of miles from
the days when it hardly had any news from
Ogaden let alone analysis and reports from
it’s on the ground reporters in Ogaden who
risk their lives in gathering news for the
WWW nation.
On the eve of the anniversary of the
creation of this website, the Editorial
board salutes the tireless efforts of all
those who contribute to the success of
Ogaden Online website. We thank you for your
work and ask the almighty to bless your
efforts in shining a light on the plight of
the people of Ogaden. Without you, there
sure would have been no story to tell on
this anniversary. Without you, Ogaden Online
would have been stuck at its modest
beginning. It is your efforts that made
Ogaden Online the media power house it is
today.
editorial@ogaden.com
Ogaden Online Editorial
May 19, 2006
Past articles:
HAPPY
BIRTHDAY OGADEN ONLINE |
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