More than a century, the Somali people in Ogaden have been struggling to liberate themselves from the oppressive shackles of the Ethiopian occupation. During its long strive for freedom; Ogaden had experienced the vicissitudes of the brutal Ethiopian colonial rule.

The history for the Ogaden’s freedom struggle is a long and painful one. To understand this century-and-plus old conflict, one needs to go back to the history that had created it. The Ogaden problem is one of the consequences of the scramble for Africa, which left behind never-ending crises in many parts of the continent. Ogaden was forcefully annexed to Ethiopia by the European governments against the will of its people.

The fact that, Ethiopia, which had played a shroud game throughout the scramble, got Ogaden among its others shares in the region. It has been since using this annexation as a mandate for claiming sovereign rights over its ill-gotten gains, despite the vehement denial of the land’s rightful title holders.

It was, in fact, an unfortunate double tragedy for the Somali people to be further subjected to another colonial rule, which put their destiny under uncertainty till today. However, they neither gave up their freedom nor relaxed their determination until they achieve liberation.

In his famous book, The Betrayal of the Somalis, Mr. Louis Fitzgibbon gave a chilling account of how the Somali people were unjustly betrayed by the former colonial masters who, in partitioning the African continent according to their own geopolitical interests at the time and with little regard to existing indigenous African settlements, dished out Somali territories to Abyssinia piece after piece, without the consent or knowledge of its people. “Much of the evil and misery which befall mankind stems from ignorance and misunderstanding … unless and until there is greater understanding, the Horn of Africa will continue to be riven with resulting suffering, loss of life, and exodus of refugees.”, he lamented, adding that this ignorance and misunderstanding which has been the root cause of the ever-intensifying tension in the region “is not a chapter of history of which the European powers can be proud. Nor is it possible to relegate it to the pages of history as an ever-fading event which time will obliterate. It is important here to realize that the Somali people (in Ogaden) are a nation rather than a state.”

Similar sentiments were also echoed by two British writers at the time who were well acquainted with the region (Sir Alfred pease and H.R. Fox Bourne) who expressed their “consternation” at this scandalous betrayal of the Somali people with whom the super powers, particularly Britain, had hitherto entered with them into “solemn obligations for their protection” but were thereafter left “to be mercilessly dealt with by their Abyssinian enemies”.

Suffering has begun for the Somali people in Ogaden

This gloomy prediction came true: the injustices and atrocities suffered by the Somali people in Ogaden under the successive Ethiopian slave regimes are, indeed, indescribable. Right after its acquisition, the Ethiopian imperial-empire-state had brutally institutionalized an assimilation policy of “Ogaden-become-Ethiopian or perish” which, government after government, it carried it with great severity. Under this nihilistic policy, our people were relegated to the bottom of human life. Many were forced into exile because of these political atrocities, while those who remained in their beleaguered land are today struggling against one of the most blatant kind of oppression that a human being faces. As we are just witnessing today, torture, starvation, rape and a wholesale persecution is a daily mirror on the Ogaden scene.

This is the truth about the Ogaden situation, but so little does the international community knows about what is happening there as the recent incident that came as a rude shock to the world has shown it.

The New York Times, the world leading news paper, was denied access to the region, and in the process its reporters fall victim of their conscience. They were confined and physically abused while in captivity by the TPLF militia in Ogaden. The autocratic regime in Addis Ababa is yet to explain or rather apologize for its unsavory action. Above anything else, the incident was a revealing instance that unraveled the well established Ethiopian colonial policies towards the region that kept it in a solitary confinement so as to prevent the plight of the inhabitants from functioning into the light.

Over the years, Ethiopia has intimidated the international organizations out of Ogaden in order to manipulate events and information in the region to its own colonial ends.

 he news paper which was driven, I believe, by the recurring horrific images of the suffering humanity which were steadily and painstakingly reported by the local media and human rights organizations, felt to see, on first hand, the plight and the sordid situation faced by the Somali people in Ogaden from their own eyes. What it did in the few days that it has spent in the area will for ever remain a benevolent act and justice done on behalf of a so long victimized people.

So far the human rights abuses that came into the light are the tip of the iceberg, and I believe if the news paper could have been able to spend more few weeks in the region, the world would have been left in awe and shock today. 

The news paper, however, did its best in reporting and presenting the truth which Ethiopia had long suppressed it. It’s now the international community’s moral responsibility to take a very critical view of the Ethiopia’s despicable human rights record. What is happening in the country, and particularly in Ogaden, is beyond mere human rights violations. It’s a total annihilation of a whole race; a war crime and genocide in the true sense of the word. A regime with such horrendous human rights violations should be held accountable on its monstrous deeds.

All we can, however, do is to demand redress and expect justice.

We believe that justice is impartial, yet, as Mr. Louis had rightly observed that justice was not served as far as Ogaden is concerned. “Subsequent to the “Ogaden” war of 1977-1978”, he said, “I became convinced that here was an issue basic to the concept of freedom, but an issue which was not properly comprehended to a point where “justice” was being withheld from the Somalis. Therefore, those who have a debt of honor to repay (those who, in the past, involved in the origins of the Somali-Ethiopian dispute) should be in the forefront in striving for an initiative, both political and humanitarian.” “The Somali-Ethiopian dispute is no long a purely African matter,” Louis observes, “it must be one for international attention, and a concerted effort should be made to bring it forcefully to the notice of the United Nations.”

There are also so many others who raise their voices in sympathy with the genuine Ogaden cause. One such voice is that of Senator Eagleton who, reading into the Congressional Record in March 1978, had re-iterated the Somali people’s political right to attain freedom. He said “The Somali-speaking people of Ogaden are manifestly different from the people of the Ethiopian heartland, and manifestly do not want to be rule by them ... to acquiesce in the re-imposition of that rule is to acquiesce in a re-establishment of imperialism.”    

This should be cause for concern among all who cherish freedom and liberty; because there is a limit to oppression which any human being can stand.

Ogaden is a real tragedy for the continent as a whole as many believe it to be the heart of the looming conflicts that had grinded the region and its people. On several occasions, the Somali people tried, through peacefully democratic means, to achieve the right to self-determination but took recourse to armed resistance later when the Ethiopian regimes failed to address their wishes and aspirations.

The International community, therefore, must assert its moral authority over the Ethiopian government to end its colonial subjugations and find a comprehensive settlement to the Ogaden issue; because the longer it drags on the more it plagues the already suffering humanity under its heavy colonial jack-boots. The Somali people were never given the chance to voice their opinion on their destiny through a referendum or whatsoever. To enable them achieve their democratic rights, the international community has to extend its unflinching moral, material and political support to their just struggle.

Meanwhile, Ogaden is currently facing hash political and economic conditions that call for an immediate intervention, and it’s a high time that the international community devotes much attention to this unfolding humanitarian disaster before Ogaden turns into killing fields. Surely, the world cannot afford another genocide.

The agony, misery and the suffering of the Somali people in Ogaden are long past due and it should awaken our human conscience! They are looking up to the world community to come to their rescue and it’s against humanity for the United Nations in particular and the rest of the international community not to do so. Otherwise, Ethiopia, emboldened by this long silence, will haughtily continue carrying out its repressive colonial measures unabated.

Abdullahi Hassan,
abdullahihasan@yahoo.com

[1] Louis Fitzgibbon is an AWARD wining author who published a number of books on the concept of justice and freedom. He firmly believes in the causes of the oppressed or ‘forgotten peoples.'