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TOBOGGANING WITH THE TERRORIST
THEME "Our indications seem to suggest that the terrorists may have
started from Rascomboni in Somalia and gone to Mombasa using
boats that were launched from Rascomboni." BBC Online Ethiopia’s premier, Meles Zenawi,
gave the above statement to the BBC correspondent in Addis
Ababa after his uneventful trip to the US. In the statement,
Meles claims that he has information linking a Somali based
organization to the Mombasa tragedy. What is interesting
however is why would Meles fail to provide such “a
news-worthy” item either to the American government or to
media conglomerates such as CNN? Is it possible that
statements such as the above are meant to entice the
Americans that Meles has more information than what he may
have provided to president Bush therefore the need for
Americans to better do business with him as far as the horn
of Africa is concerned? It is most probable that the above
is merely Meles’s folie de grandeur in the eyes of
Ethiopian citizenry after the embarrassment of the recent
Anti-Meles demonstrations held in Washington last Thursday
and Friday. Meles, having failed to convince the
Americans to be their point man in the horn. Having flanked
horribly to convince Bush to include Addis Ababa to his
upcoming tour of Africa. Having failed to persuade the
American military to partake some of the money destined for
fighting terrorism in the horn, it is not unexpected for
Meles to resort to rhetoric and have hallucinations about
possible suspects behind the Mombassa tragedy. He would be
better off to busy himself in mobilizing the army for the
prevention of the potential millions of deaths due to the
state-orchestrated famine in many regions such as Ogaden,
Oromia, and Sidamo to name but a few. While claiming that there are
terrorists in his backyard, Meles is attempting to divert
attention from his own terrorist actions both inside
Ethiopia and outside especially in Somalia. Ogaden Online
has received information from different sources indicating
that Ethiopia, in violation of articles 733 (passed in
1992), and 1356(ratified in 2001) of the UN charter, has
sent the largest arms shipment to a Somali warlord that now
controls Northeast Somalia. That shipment left from the Town
of Godey to Bosaso last week. Strangely this arms shipment
has taken place at a time when Ethiopia is claiming to be
mediating the Eldoret Somali reconciliation conference under
IGAD auspices. A question needs to be asked whether it is a
coincidence that there has been a skirmish in the weekend,
in the town of Laascaanood between forces belonging to the
Somali warlord who received the arms shipment and forces
guarding the president of the self-proclaimed republic of
Somaliland? Terrorist actions initiated by Meles
and his representatives are evident everywhere. For example,
last week in Eldoret, there has been an agreement between
the Mogadishu based warlords and the Somali transitional
government to reopen the Mogadishu port and the airport.
Anyone or country with its right mind will welcome any
positive thing that can result peace and tranquility for the
weary Somali populace. However instead of welcoming such a
positive step, Ethiopia’s IGAD representative for the
Eldoret conference, attempted to disrupt the signing of the
agreement. Why would Ethiopia claim to be fighting
terrorists when Meles is the one bad influence and the most
visible terrorist in the horn of Africa? The Ogaden people have experienced first hand many human rights violations such as rape, arbitrary detention of innocent civilians, torture, and slow death in the hands of the Ethiopian soldiery. Meles’s claim that he has first hand information about who was behind the Mombasa tragedy is an attempt to divert world attention away from the atrocities that his army commits against the Ogaden populace. It is also a realization on his part that the best way to finance his ambitious ethnic cleansing in Ogadenia and his commitment to corrode the Somali reconciliation, is to toboggan with the terrorist theme. America is forewarned about this bad-mannered terrorist! Ogaden
Online Editorial Board
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