Ethiopia’s Dirty War
Such stories, of course, are almost impossible to verify. Ethiopia has firmly denied reports of atrocities and has placed the blame on the ONLF, which it considers a terrorist organization backed by archfoe Eritrea and Islamist militias in nearby Somalia. In his last public remarks on the subject, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told reporters in late November that he was "absolutely confident that there hasn't been any widespread violation of human rights" in the region. Reports of army atrocities amount to "baseless allegation[s] and a smear campaign against our government," says Abdullahi Hassan, the regional president of Ethiopia's Somali region. "This is our people, and we cannot abuse human rights. That has never happened and this can never happen." Speaking to reporters in the town of Gode in one of the region's more stable districts, Hassan says development in the area is on the rise, trade routes to Somalia are open, and "the situation is completely calm now." The government has "completely destroyed" the ONLF.
Most residents—interviewed in the presence of government translators—voice a similar assessment. But not all do. In a village west of Gode, at a development project where the government is trying to settle nomads on irrigated farmland, a 35-year-old man says violence in the region is continuing. "The Ethiopian government, after they fight the rebels, they often turn on us and kill women and children," he says. "We're very scared. I'm afraid speaking to you now. There's lots of spies. They're everywhere." He estimates that more than two dozen civilians are killed monthly in the area around Gode, before abruptly cutting off the interview as a crowd gathers.
A blockage of commercial traffic with neighboring Somalia has also contributed to malnutrition. The embargo, together with locusts and drought, have forced grain prices up—many Somalis say prices have doubled in the past year. The one doctor in the hospital in Gode, Zilalim Eschetu, estimates that 75 percent of the children who visit the hospital are malnourished. "It's a visible crisis," he says. Among the patients in Eschetu's malnutrition ward is two-year-old Sugah Hash, whose emaciated legs curl helplessly on her mother's lap. "We had no food for a few months, so we had to run to this hospital," says Mariam Ali, her mother.
Ethiopian government officials say the embargo was imposed to keep arms and supplies from reaching the rebels and insist that Ethiopia has lifted most trade restrictions. Human Rights Watch, however, suspects that the government has been deliberately targeting its Somali population. "There is no question that in the last eight months the Ethiopian military went on a very intensive scorched-earth campaign," says Leslie Lefkow, a researcher at Human Rights Watch who has tracked the crisis. To be sure, the ONLF has also committed atrocities in the region. Somali clan elders in the regional capital of Jijiga say the rebels have mined roads, launched grenade attacks on civilians, and stolen livestock from herders. However, analysts say the government has committed the lion's share of abuses.
Western governments don't seem to have put much pressure on Ethiopia to ease the situation. Ethiopia has been a key U.S. ally in the war on terrorism. Zenawi's government has allowed the CIA and FBI to interrogate foreign terror suspects flushed out of Somalia in secret prisons in Ethiopia, as the Associated Press first reported in April. The U.S. military has also trained Ethiopia's army and in 2006 sold $6 million in weapons to Ethiopia, according to the U.S. defense department—more than any other African country. In December, with U.S. intelligence and logistical support, Ethiopia invaded Somalia to oust an Islamist government that briefly controlled southern Somalia. Somalia has been in chaos ever since, as supporters of the former Union of Islamic Courts government have joined clan militias in battling Ethiopian troops and forces loyal to the U.N.-backed transitional government.
One Ethiopian security official says Somalia's Al Qaeda-linked Islamic militias have played a key role in fueling the ONLF insurgency in Ethiopia, providing funding and arms to the rebels. A spokesman for the ONLF denies any such connection, and Western diplomats say it's unclear whether the two insurgencies are connected.
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Member Comments
Posted By: 5star @ 01/27/2008 9:14:01 PM
Comment: jonas your a FOOL she was telling the truth there is all kind of evidence proving what those innocent civilians are going through by your cowardice actions ethiopian government still cant explain why do they "RESTRICT" certain part of the region not to be shown? it only proves that they're are hiding the atrocities which they're committing against those defendless people only COWARDS like yourself target civilians understand ethiopian government is always DEPENDENT on FORIEGN ASSISTANCE seriously you cowards will never be close to our level even during 1977 OGADEN WAR when somalis have chase you aids infested bantus it was the SOVEIT UNION and the CUBAN ARMY who came to rescue you understand you will NEVER have the HEART to fight somalis 1-on-1 history has proven even in 1531 when somali KING Ahmed Gurey conquered most of ethiopia once again you cowards call for help to the portuguese through out history you have always DEPEND on FORIEGNER countries and now your getting the same FOREIGN SUPPORT against the SOMALIS with the so called "FAKE WAR ON TERROR" ethiopian government even tried to LABEL the ONLF as a "terrorist group" which is LAUGHABLE the ONLF have been around for over 25 years i bet people who was following the ogaden situation were laughing at your STUPIDITY and all of the sudden you want to call them "terrorist"? LOOL your DESPERATE attempts on getting support wont work this time i'm pretty sure alot of AMERICANS and U.N knows that words "terrorist" has been ABUSED first of SOMALIS are "MODERATES" our culture, religion, tradition is a proven fact we arent extremist but i'll tell you how people transform into extremists and it is WAR, INJUSTICE, HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES, ect even when somalis were in state of war it was all about CLAN based not about religion so once again your attempts labeling SOMALIS as terrorist is PATHETIC! it might fooled the BUSH admns and the neo-cons into thinking somalis were terrorist because their muslim i'm pretty most AMERICANS are well educated enough to differentiate FACTS from FICTION but at the end of the day we both know ethiopian government CANNOT live without FOREIGN SUPPORT and ASSISTANCE mark my words once somalis UNITE we will chase you COWARDS back to AIDS ABABA lool
Posted By: 5star @ 01/27/2008 9:13:39 PM
Comment: jonas your a FOOL she was telling the truth there is all kind of evidence proving what those innocent civilians are going through by your cowardice actions ethiopian government still cant explain why do they "RESTRICT" certain part of the region not to be shown? it only proves that they're are hiding the atrocities which they're committing against those defendless people only COWARDS like yourself target civilians understand ethiopian government is always DEPENDENT on FORIEGN ASSISTANCE seriously you cowards will never be close to our level even during 1977 OGADEN WAR when somalis have chase you aids infested bantus it was the SOVEIT UNION and the CUBAN ARMY who came to rescue you understand you will NEVER have the HEART to fight somalis 1-on-1 history has proven even in 1531 when somali KING Ahmed Gurey conquered most of ethiopia once again you cowards call for help to the portuguese through out history you have always DEPEND on FORIEGNER countries and now your getting the same FOREIGN SUPPORT against the SOMALIS with the so called "FAKE WAR ON TERROR" ethiopian government even tried to LABEL the ONLF as a "terrorist group" which is LAUGHABLE the ONLF have been around for over 25 years i bet people who was following the ogaden situation were laughing at your STUPIDITY and all of the sudden you want to call them "terrorist"? LOOL your DESPERATE attempts on getting support wont work this time i'm pretty sure alot of AMERICANS and U.N knows that words "terrorist" has been ABUSED first of SOMALIS are "MODERATES" our culture, religion, tradition is a proven fact we arent extremist but i'll tell you how people transform into extremists and it is WAR, INJUSTICE, HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES, ect even when somalis were in state of war it was all about CLAN based not about religion so once again your attempts labeling SOMALIS as terrorist is PATHETIC! it might fooled the BUSH admns and the neo-cons into thinking somalis were terrorist because their muslim i'm pretty most AMERICANS are well educated enough to differentiate FACTS from FICTION but at the end of the day we both know ethiopian government CANNOT live without FOREIGN SUPPORT and ASSISTANCE mark my words once somalis UNITE we will chase you COWARDS back to AIDS ABABA lool
Posted By: ahmedeegge @ 01/27/2008 4:52:05 PM
Comment: ethiopia military is comiting crime against humanity when they deliberatly targeted the civilian people of ogaden region killing them detain them with out trail and raping women front of their relatives. this is humilating the ogaden people. killing torturing is a common thing in ogaden region thier is no law and order and only justice in ogaden is military justice which is killing torturing. thier is no civilian courts in ogaden and is only court is military one. meles zeawi
government was a rebel before but he forget that he was once abused by his people the ethiopian military and what happening in ogaden region is what happen meles zenawi region when mingiste was in power.
iam thanking the newsweek article about the suffering of ogaden people there is good journalist who knows what happening in ogaden and the cover up and continuis lie about the ethiopian government saying their no human abuse in ogaden everything is ok which is far from the reality.
if ethiopia is not lying about the ogaden suffring why they not allowing the international journalist to visit the region why they kick out all humanatarian agencies like red cross. ethiopia is new isreal of africa look what they doing somalia people in magadishu. discriminate shelling the civilian residents of magadishu. and shout to kill anything moving ethiopia invaded somalia state illegaly with the support from the USA. george bush government paid Mr. meles zenawi $300 million dollar to invade somalia and he cashing in since he invaded somalia and he dousn't care his poor soldeirs dying every day in mogadishu and residents draging their dead body in the streets of mogadishu.
meles he cares only to fill his bank the American dollar and that his target
let me remind you that meles himself he was living in somalia before as refugee
and he started his rebel movement in somalia he paid the somalia hopitality to invade their country aand killing the civilian every day.
this will be end of so called ethiopia and the somali ogaden people will rise and devend themselfes. ethiopia can't feed it is own people and they want invade noughbering countries , somalia, eriterea, sudan, it is blind man leeding blind man they way Mr.meles Zenawi leading to ethiopia. and it will ended up disaster.
ahmed eegge