Unearthing the Plight of the Ogaden Populace

Ogaden Online Editorial
Nov 14, 2005

The recent NPR broadcast about the Ogaden region and the social effects of the efforts of the American special forces in Ogadenia is a welcome news to all those who have been working hard in bringing the world’s attention to the plight of the Ogaden populace. While the broadcast was a positive step towards unearthing the difficulties faced by the Ogaden citizenry, it had also shed a light on the unfounded claims by Ethiopia’s Zenawi that there were terrorists in a region as backward today as Grand Gulch in southern Utah. It is apparent that Zenawi’s intention was to toboggan with the terrorist theme in order to get funding for his own large and uncontrollable militias masquerading as military personnel in the region.

The picture used for this broadcast said a lot about how backward and far removed the people of Ogaden are from modern civilization. Successive Ethiopian governments attempted, and succeeded to a large extent, in hiding from the world view the plight of the Ogaden people. It is well documented that all funds earmarked for developmental projects head towards the north to Maqale as Ethiopia’s once fascist and now turned ‘democrat’ has shown repeatedly that he has no interest in advancing the lives of the Ogaden citizenry. The fact that the American Special Forces saw the need for a water pump is a testament to the fact that Ogadenia is a region neglected by the world and forsaken by successive Ethiopian regimes who claim that Ogadenia is part of their land yet do nothing to raise the standard of living of the inhabitants of Ogadenia. How else can one explain that a country that according to the US state department received more than 2.3 Billion Dollars from the US government alone from 1991 to 2003 could not afford to buy a single water bump that could have helped the Ogaden population in one locale irrigate their badly needed crops?

It is a fact that there are no terrorists in Ogadenia as claimed by Zenawi and his cohorts. It is also a fact that Zenawi and his ilk have failed horrendously to make a modest advance in the lives of the Ogaden citizenry since American Special Forces had to repair a badly needed bridge in Godey that had been in tatters since 1940s. It is apparent that when Ethiopia’s marauding midget is not in the western world’s television screens begging for help towards a yet another man made famine in Ethiopia, he is hard at work to lobby the world for the labeling of freedom fighting movements such as ONLF and OLF as ‘terrorists’. We ask the world community to pay a visit to Ogadenia and see first hand the plight of the Ogaden populace. The US government should take advantage of its presence in Ogadenia to win the minds and hearts of our people by providing developmental aid directly to the people rather than gift it to the current regime. It is our inherent belief that such an act of benevolence is the only way to advance American interests while raising the standard of living of the Ogaden populace.

 

editorial@ogaden.com
Nov 14, 2005

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