For Immediate Release
September 1, 2010
Located in the eastern province of Ethiopia , the Ogaden region continues to be a hotbed for conflict between the Ethiopian government and liberation movements, most notably the Ogaden National Liberation Front. For decades the region has been systematically isolated and inaccessible to the international community, humanitarian organizations, international media, and inter-governmental organizations all remain expelled from the territory. Historically, the Ogadeni people have endured marginalization by successive Ethiopian regimes, and still maintain no socio-political or economic connection with the rest of the country.
It can be concluded that the conflict and suffering in the Ogaden is a direct result of the colonial scramble for Africa during the past hundred years and more. For the last half of the 19th century, Great Britain, France, Italy, and their local agent Ethiopia (than called Abyssinia), had on numerous occasions constructed boundary agreements partitioning Somali-inhabited regions of the Horn of Africa without the knowledge or consent of its people. During this period feuding European powers greatly increased the nation's military capacity, partly because of European merchants who supplied Abyssinian forces with modern arms.
The British defeat of Italy in World War II paved the way for Ethiopian ambitions in the Ogaden. Soon after the defeat, British forces illegally transferred Ogaden territory to Ethiopia, and did so without the knowledge or consent of the local population. This transfer took place in three stages that occurred in 1948, 1954 and 1956.
