21 April 2005
FOREIGN RELATIONS BUREAU
Press release

For the last three months Ethiopian colonial troops have increased the harassment and looting of the Ogaden Somali people, especially those near  the border areas with  Somalia, demanding supplies and logistics in order to finance Ethiopia's  new venture to Somalia. 

On the 13th of April 2005, the Ogaden Liberation army sent units to the area in order to alleviate the pressure from the Ogaden people and divert the attention of the marauding and lawless Ethiopian conscripts. As expected the head of the Ethiopian army in the area
ordered his conscripts to clear away ONLF.

Thus on the fourteenth of April four battalions from  Laaso-aano village and Shilaabo District, 90 Kms East of Qabridaharre attackedthe Ogaden liberation army at Caleen (Aleen) in the Qabri-daharre region. ONLF was well prepared and the Ethiopian army was routed, burning two Ural vehicles and destroying their ammunition and logistics. About 190 dead Ethiopian solders were counted by the liberation fighters. The rest of the Ethiopian army scattered and hundreds of small arms  and thousands of  rounds of ammunitions were recovered from the site. On the ONLF side five liberation fighters
martyred.

After this happened, the Ethiopians sent reinforcements from Wardheer, Qabri-daharre, Goday and Dagaxbuur. Many of the troops were waylaid by the liberation forces in their area and are bogged down although heavily armed, but some units reached the first
battleground and immediately as is usual with all occupation armies started killing, looting and imprisoning the local population. Many people were abducted and now Ethiopia is claiming they are holding ONLF fighters, but what they are holding in reality are innocent
civilians tending their camels.

The fighting is still going on many fronts and the whole region has been placed under extra marshal regime. The Ethiopian army commandeered all vehicles in the area and it stopped all movement of the people. Ethiopia is deploying troops from as far as Addis Ababa.

The Ethiopian regime could no longer hide fighting between ONLF liberation army and its conscripts and therefore it opted to distort the facts and make false claims. What is significant is that Ethiopia can no longer hide the struggle of the Ogaden Somali people.

In addition the Ethiopians are claiming that ONLF Liberation army has been trained in Eritrea and has entered the Ogaden border from Somalia. Before 1991, the scapegoat for the struggle of the Ogaden people was Somalia, and between 1991 and up to now it was fundamentalists, but now Ethiopia suddenly found that Eritrea may become a new convenient scapegoat to hide its heinous crimes against the Ogaden people and it’s shortcomings avis-avis the freedom fighters in the Ogaden. ONLF forces are trained and operate inside the Ogaden.

ONLF is committed to peaceful solution in the conflict, but unfortunately is dealing with bloodthirsty regime that believes only in the barrel of the gun.

Justice shall prevail
ONLF

FOREIGN RELATIONS BUREAU
Infobureau@onlf.org

More ONLF News

HEADLINE: ETHIOPIA: ONLF (Ogaden National Liberation Front) CLAIMS VICTORY OVER GOVERNMENT FORCES IN SOUTHEAST

HEADLINE: SOUTHEAST-BASED ETHIOPIAN REBELS CLAIM MILITARY TRIUMPHS OVER GOVERNMENT FORCES

 

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