The so-called ‘elections’ to be held on 21 August 2005  in Ogaden will occur outside of the framework of a comprehensive political settlement to the longstanding dispute between the Somalis of Ogaden and successive Ethiopian governments resulting in yet another weak and ineffective surrogate administration of the Ethiopian regime enjoying nearly zero legitimacy in the eyes of the people and presiding over continued social and economic misery.

The TPLF/EPRDF regime has chosen to try once again, a formula which has failed miserably in the past by holding so-called ‘elections’ in an environment where freedom of assembly is habitually denied, freedom of expression punishable by detention and homegrown independent Somali media denied operating rights effectively silencing dissenting political opinion.

Ballots are being held in military compounds and in some cases these same compounds have been designated as venues for casting voting ballots creating ample opportunity for coercion and intimidation. Voting ballots are readily available in the black market and there is no indication that a vast majority of polling stations will have any kind of independent monitors present.

As long as Ethiopia refuses to recognize the rights of the Somali people of Ogaden to self-determination and continues to avoid seeking a comprehensive political settlement to the Ogaden dispute through an internationally monitored process of dialogue, the holding of truly broad based participatory elections resulting in legitimate self-government with a mandateto address the social ills faced by the people of Ogaden will not be realized.

Despite the ONLF's call for an internationally monitored dialogue with the TPLF/EPRDF regime in a neutral country with no preconditions on both sides so that a comprehensive political solution can be reached, the regime has shown a lack of political maturity and no intention of seeking a just and lasting solution to the Ogaden conflict.

The ONLF calls on the international community to intervene in Ogaden so that true elections and not political selections can take place in Ogaden. In the absence of a comprehensive political settlement to the Ogaden dispute which guarantees our people the right to self-determination, so-called ‘elections’ in Ogaden will enjoy neither legitimacy nor broad participation.

The ONLF wishes to affirm that in the absence of a comprehensive political settlement to the Ogaden dispute and clear recognition of the right of the Somali people of Ogaden to full self-determination, we do not recognize these elections as being free, fair, legitimate or legal in the context of the dispute which exists between the Somalis of Ogaden and successive Ethiopian governments.


Ogaden National Liberation Front (O.N.L.F)
onlfpress@onlf.org

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