Aug 01, 2007
By: Saafi Labafidhin

The current Ethiopian regime led by Meles Zenawi of Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) repeatedly tried in the past to obliterate Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) from the Ogaden territory. ONLF started its highly effective guerrilla military campaigns against TPLF militias masquerading as the de facto Ethiopian military in Ogaden following TPLF crack down on the democratically elected ranks of ONLF in Godey, Wardheer, Qabridahar, and Jigjiga in late 1993 and early 1994. The idea was and still is to harass and frustrate TPLF forces in Ogaden with the use of ongoing surprise raids, which sap the morale of the TPLF conscripts and their associated militias.

The now quarterly announcements of yet another ‘crackdown’ in Ogaden emanating from the Addis mafia are a testament to the successes ONLF is having against TPLF forces in Ogaden. The latest pronouncement of one such ‘crackdown’ came last Month (June, 9) when the TPLF head Mr. Zenawi announced in a hastily convened news conference. He claimed to have launched a political and military operation to try to contain the activities of the ONLF in the region. He added that over the past few days, the military plans have started to be implemented."²

In all past manoeuvres of what the TPLF terms a ‘crackdown, the TPLF ended up by targeting the poorest of the poor Ogaden pastorals and unarmed civilians. TPLF militias have killed as many civilians and livestock as they could lay hands on; They also burned down entire towns and hamlets resulting the loss of all property and food supplies; They have also carried out mass detentions and extra judicial killings and maiming of Ogaden civilians. The question though is whether this latest crackdown of Ogaden civilians will work this time.

Glancing back at the recent history of failed TPLF crackdowns in Ogaden, let us look at the TPLF operation against the ONLF, which was executed between August and December last year. At the time, thousands of TPLF military conscripts were deployed in Ogaden not only to fight ONLF but also to secure the border and counter what the Addis Ababa administration ‘perceived’ as a threat by the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) in Somalia.³ However, the illegal actions and extra judicial killings carried out by the Ethiopian troops have only increased the number ONLF recruits who joined the front after the Highland Christian dominated TPLF troops killed civilians as well as their livestock and burned down villages before they were ordered to take part of the Somali invasion.

Successive Ethiopian regimes have done more harm than good to the people of starting with the underhand British hand over of the region to Abyssinia. Unlike other Ethiopian administrations, some people hoped that under the TPLF’s carefully crafted constitution, Ogaden would get its share of the ‘Ethiopian Cake’. As a result, many begun to declare openly a newly Ethiopian Ogaden identity. The then BBC’s distinguished reporter, Mohammed Adow, the only BBC reporter to have travelled as far as Shilabo, once reported that:

Many Ethiopian Somalis in the Ogaden do not trust the government soldiers, who are mainly from northern Ethiopia, with no familiarity with the territory or culture, sent to the region. "We would very much like to be Ethiopians, but is not that easy. We have been fighting for secession for close to fifty years now, and I think it will take another 50 years of armed struggle for us to get recognition or to be accepted as Ethiopians," Ali Hassan Ali told Adow.⁴

The fact that TPLF did not accept and/or trust their new identity and the oppression of the greatest extent unfolded in the history of the region not against rebels like ONLF but against the common community members, many people are now withdrawing their identity manifestation. In one particular incident, when the Ethiopian Troops killed a dozen of elderly, women and children, a woman was helplessly screaming to get her children’s milk before her hut was being burnt!!  She was reported to have said to the Army Leader “why are you doing this to us? Are you not a human being?”  Whereas he replied “I was ordered to protect the LAND, not ITS PEOPLE!!”⁵ All these and more create strength and unity for the Ogaden people on the ground and abroad which is one reason why the Zenawi and his minions’ terror campaign will not achieve its objectives let alone its goal.

Although the TPLF regime is enjoying the blind support of the Bush Administration for its ‘War on Terror’, the Western press is opening their humanly door to the Ogaden Tragedy and unlike any other time people in the corners of the world are standing shoulder to shoulder with the victimized Ogaden Somalis. Human Rights Watch and other Humanitarian Organizations are openly disclosing the arbitrary and cruel exercise of power by TPLF regime.⁶

Moreover, unlike Ethiopian highlanders, the people of Ogaden are more open, social and live by sharing whatever they have. So those who are lucky to escape the Zenawi massacre and are able to access water for their livestock will somehow survive on the mere animal products such as milk and for them the food blockading will simply not work.

The brutal highland army is already overstretched in different fronts from the North (border with Eritrea) to Somalia and is morally and strategically weak. Everyday they are attacked in Mogadishu by insurgents who are committed to die for liberating their country from the Ethiopian Invasion, but for the invading army majority of whom are non Tigrayans but still who cannot even dare to ask their minority Tigray leaders why they are dying without a cause, theirs is a life filled with permanent fear, daily nightmare and distress and they are only fighting for they themselves do not have a way out and need to be liberated! Remember when some of them tried to escape to Yemen and failed. Same is true for those in the Ogaden as they surrender to the ONLF which is quite normal these days.

Last but not least, it is well known every time the hostile troops are about to implement an operation against the people of Ogaden, the troops must travel in large convoys (lest they are ambushed by ONLF) which needs a great deal of logistical manoeuvrings. This will have consumed all their resources (and the regions unutilized resources which is diverted to military pockets instead of development for the poor!). All the above facts and other underlying phenomenon make it clear that the Zenawi Terror campaign IS NOT REALLY WORKING NOR WILL IT WORK. And if it works somehow, it will only work against its planners and executors.

References:

1. Personal Accounts and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogaden_National_Liberation_Front
2. http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/MCON74S8Q9?OpenDocument
3. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5383012.stm
4. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5383012.stm
5. Interview with Witnesses
6. http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/07/02/ethiop16327.htm

By: Saafi Labafidhin
hoodo83@hotmail.com