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Ethiopia
Determined to Conceal The Ogaden Plight From the World
Community |
Editorial
May 22, 2007
The illegal detention and release without
charge or explanation of the three New York
Times journalists in Ogaden by the Ethiopian
Military confirms the veracity of what the
Ogaden press has been publishing for years
now.
Illegal detentions, physical torture and
threatening torture, as was the case with
the Times journalists, are the order of the
day for the Ogaden citizenry in the hands of
the Ethiopian military and its associated
militias. Worse there are rapes and extra
judicial killings carried out daily by the
Ethiopian military and its associated
militias in many parts
of Ogaden.
These atrocities against the helpless Ogaden
civilians are witnessed and reported ONLY by
the Ogaden press whose few reporters defy
death in order to report what the Ogaden
populace has faced for a century and quarter
now in the hands of successive Ethiopian
regimes. Only the Ogaden press was even
aware that these journalists were detained
in the first place and reported the
journalists’ detention.
Ethiopia is determined to conceal, at all
costs, the plight of the Ogaden populace. It
is the very reason why no foreign journalist
or visitor is allowed to set foot in Ogaden.
It is also why the Times journalists were
detained to prevent the publication of
whatever information they might have
gathered during their brief sojourn in
Ogaden.
Ethiopia understands that should any foreign
journalist visit Ogaden, he or she will get
an accurate picture of the extent of
maltreatment and colonial subjugation faced
by the Ogaden populace in the hands of the
current Ethiopian regime.
It is the Ethiopian regime’s inherent belief
that what the outside world can not see and
hence prove can always be explained away as
an Ogaden propaganda should questions be
raised by the few prying eyes of the
West.The policy of the current autocracy in
Addis Ababa is to confine Westernjournalists
in Addis Ababa and its environs instead of
allowing them to visit Ogaden, the current
theatre of death.
Even the few brave Non-Governmental
Organizations, NGO that work in Ogaden are
not accorded freedom of movement. There are
documented cases where NGOs were attacked by
disguised Ethiopian military personnel and
associated militias in order to manufacture
insecurity and force these NGOs to
repatriate their staff from Ogaden cities.
The world should know that atrocities are
taking place in Ogaden; atrocities carried
out by a regime hell bent to conceal the
extent of the plight of the Ogaden populace.
If this regime can detain without charge,
and contrary to all diplomatic conventions,
American journalists for five days, one can
understand what awaits any other journalist
who attempts to document atrocities carried
out the Ethiopian regime in Ogaden.
The detention of the Times journalists
should be a wake up call to the world
community. The world community and its press
should not abandon the Ogaden people. The
world community should investigate the
extent of maltreatment and colonial
subjugation in Ogaden. The world community
should insist that Ethiopia allow foreign
journalists access to Ogaden. Hopefully the
world community will no longer allow
Ethiopia to conceal the plight of the Ogaden
populace.
editorial@ogaden.com
Ogaden Online Editorial |
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