The So Called development in Somali state of Ethiopia (Ogaden Region) And the Propaganda of Universal TV.

After the wslf (Western Somali liberation front) signed peace deal agreement, the world was convinced, there will be peace and stability in the region but that was new phase for escalating corruptions and crimes.

So Many Ogadenis  , Somalis and the world in large had questioned themselves, whether WSLF peace deal could bring a concrete result in which the expectation of the region was always negative regarding their years of unseen in the battlefield and saw the process  as an additional problematic  factor that will never change anything on the fact .

At the time whereby years had passed since peace negotiation was conducted and this moment still crimes & corruptions are contemporarily triggering widely in the territory.

One might ask, if the negotiation did contributed any proper tangible changes, what was the significance of dealing peace process if not so?.

its abundantly clear that the so called wslf had weakened and therefore  lost popularity , so the only option for   preexisting was to agree the Ethiopia  to proceed its act against humanity operations and gave  go ahead  to kill innocent civilians under the umbrella of peace talks.

A day back, I had an interview with a man who often visits in Egypt, I several times had talks with him previously (years ago)  whether  personal concern or the region itself, when I first approached him and debuted  greetings, the guy replied , “Ma wiilki onlf ba”, meaning “are you the onlf boy”, I quickly  gave him a response that he wasn’t expecting , saying “ no, it’s the new development supporter”, as he heard the different  answer I gave ,I sense unemotional  reaction (shaking  head), I proceeded talking and said, there is transformations , infrastructure of roads , industrial projects, security tightening and  touchable economical changes in the region, so I’m with the revolutions of change.

The man spoken heartily quoted, “there is no change what you see on TVs are just propaganda, that is suitable words on the fact”, he said.

He continued talking, I came from the region a month ago and visit the region nonstop (all the time) he told me a story , as we one day came from outside jigjiga (I can’t recall the province)and heading to the capital city, I myself and some members of wslf, we have seen people alighted from the transportation bus along the road, the people were gathered, you could able to see their faces how  horrified  & frightened they were  , they  stopped  us and we could identify , they were the new police, our  personal private vehicle driver tried to continue driving  ,one of the policemen pointed the rifle to us for the driver to stop, the guys who were with me shouted to driver why are you troubling us ,you almost kill us,he say that is the situation we’re in today, even those who took the so call peace process are humiliated and can’t  change anything from the matter.

I questioned him, there are rumors’ in which people state  ( Ibrahim dhere  aya yiri khalad buu aha dagaalki aan kula jiri jirnay Ethiopia), translation,(Ibrahim dhere said , our war with Ethiopia before was a mistake) is that true? 

He relplied :, yes , I personally heard him saying so,

I told him, isn’t that really embarrassing, an organization that fought decades to liberate their land and call themselves Islamist to talk in such manner, he said there  is huge conspiracy that we can’t know.

It is true that people in the outside have different image than that we got but the fact remains, abdi iley (Ethiopia representative ogaden region) brought a theatrical drama to confuse the international community.

The Self-denial of being Ogaden. By: Sharezad F. Gaas

I like the quotes that states (the Middle East is the home of civilization, more specifically Egypt) and I strongly support that. When you look at the civilians and how they value their customs, norms and their culture, you definitely feel the gaps between our people and them. If you look at the productivity of the entire world you will be able to see the role of the patriotic Arabs and how strictly they put their country before anything. And we've been able to witness the winds of freedom currently blowing across the Arab world.

It's obvious that when you encounter problems, our mental tries to carry out activities to tackle the problems. It's very true that if we say, self-denial have relation with existed problem via pro-claiming or searching an alternative to claim an identity that you don’t belong to.
Such claims are mainly caused by: fear, lack of confidence, weakness and unable to endure the difficulties.

It is for that reason, when you ask a pro-Meles Somali Ogaden man about his identity, he will call himself "ethiopian". Why is this man in self-denial? If you read about the civil rights struggle in America, you can find significant similarities. Many black americans hated their african characteristics. They detested their hair,  detested the shape of their nose and wanted one of those long, dog-like noses, they hated the color of their skin and would rather bleach their skin. The black color became a chain, and a prison and felt that all of these restrictions were based solely upon their skin color.

And the psychological reaction to that would have to be that as long as the black people felt imprisoned or chained or trapped by their skin, and only because that was holding them back, he automatically hated himself and the mental control was wide-spread.

In the same way, is the Somali Ogaden man denying his history, his people and his blood. And when someone is denying where he comes from in order to not feel "left out", you know that he is facing the worst form oppression.
Today we have  "leaders" who sell out our people for just a few crumbs of token recognition and token gains and they are pleased with token victories and token progress because they themselves are nothing but token leaders.

Because of the profitable game of misleading and exploiting the people, if you say to Somali Ogaden man that he is Ogaden,it makes him feel inferior; it makes him feel inadequate. And when he fells like a victim, to this feeling of inadequacy or inferiority or helplessness, he turns to somebody else to show him the way. The black man, back in the in the days, who hated himself, portrayed the white man as his master, the same thing is the Somali Ogaden man doing putting Zenawi in that position.


He don't have confidence in another Ogaden man to show him the way.
This dangerous mental control, is a result of why he is being thought that Ogaden people cant't rule their own country. And it is the same reason why the so called " intellectuals'"  say Ogaden people can't unite. Since it will be a "clash" between X tribe and Y tribe. Truth be told, they say Ogadeni people can't unite because they don't want Somali Ogadeni people to unite. Ethiopia is ruled by propaganda, painting democracy that doesn't exist.  Political awareness, which until very recently was latent, is now becoming manifest and assuming outward expression, and it will assert itself even more forcefully in the years to come.
We have to destroy the system, that sucks blood and that makes the Ogaden man think he is inferior. The mind is everything. What you think you become. When we become freedom,  we will have the ability to break coercive persuasion, and mental control.

Written by

Sharezad F Gaas
Abdullahi Ahmed

Past Muslim-Christian relations

Past Muslim-Christian relations

Historically, Ethiopia was a Christian empire involved in fierce expansionist conflicts with the Adal Emirate that was predominantly run by Somali religious elites with the help of Arabs and Ottoman Turkish Empire. With the appearance of Imam Ahmed Ibrahim Al-Ghazi, other wise known as Ahmed Guray or the left-handed in the early 16th century in Harar, the religious divide between Christian highlanders and the Muslim Somalis sharpened. The Portuguese and Ottoman empires’ support to Abyssinia and Ahmed Guray respectively reinforced the religious sentiment and hatred on both sides (Rediker, 2003). Almost four centuries latter Sayid Mohammed Abdullahi Hassan emerged with his Dervish movement, fighting in turn against Britain, Italy and Ethiopia for 21 years until he died in 1921. Sayid Mohammed had relentlessly called upon the Somali people to follow his jihad against Christian invaders (Latin, 2004). This revived existing religious tension and Somali anger at the continuous incursion and territorial claims of Ethiopian and Christian highland authority over the Ogaden.

The 1960s Nasrullah uprising was another manifestation of religious mobilization. It was established in 1963 in the Ogaden to struggle for the independence of the region. Garad Makhtal Garad Dahir was elected as its first chairman and highly respected local clerics such as Sheikh Ibrahim Hashi and Sheikh Ali Suufi were among its leaders (Ansari, 2008, Markakis, 1987). The Arabic term Nasru-laah itself has far-reaching meaning in Islamic terminology as it is another way of saying ‘sacrifice for the sake of Allah’. This connotation and the rhetoric used by the Nasrullah leaders are proof of the limited place of nationalism in the movement. In the course of these events, from Ahmed Guray to Nasrullah, perceived threats have been built up on both sides. The Somalis began to consider other Ethiopians as their primary enemy and vice versa. Since the wars that spurred this enmity were strongly driven by religious undertones, religion was prominent in how the two sides framed each other. Socioeconomic and political factors both aggravated or eased tensions between the two.

The 1969 coup d’état in Somalia and the 1974 revolution in Ethiopia both came with different discourses. The leaders of both revolutions, Siad Barre in Somalia and Mengistu Hailemariam in Ethiopia, committed themselves to secularism, namely scientific socialism. In Ethiopia it was at this point that Muslims felt that the regime was no longer a Christian one. The establishment of the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs in Ethiopia in 1976 was another step forward in Christian-Muslim relations (Ahmed, 2006). Nevertheless, this was not enough to extinguish the religious factor in the ongoing tensions between Somalis and the Ethiopian regime.

Journey to Independence. (Whenever Ogaden comes to remembrance my eyes drop tears).

“You have to do it yourself; no one else will do it for you. You must work out your own salvation.”

Receive warm greetings dear esteemed Readers before I begin the above reiterated title, hopefully this article will be so beneficial, helpful to you, increase your knowledge and at last provide you appropriate information about the region (Ogaden).

(A journey starts from a step) a sayings, the Ogaden struggle of independence had being spontaneously going on so many decades and the people of Ogaden never showed exhausted since those decades.

According to different sources defined independence as the state or quality of being independent; freedom from dependence; exemption from reliance on, or control by, others; self-subsistence or maintenance; direction of one's own affairs without interference.

In our knowledge Ethiopia was amongst the states that never been colonized in Africa due to their role of hypocrisy and creating pseudo- relations (for their interest) with the colonizers of those days And were the part of the Berlin conference where Africa was divided by the big powers.
Ogaden was colonized by England for a certain period, then took over by Italians for almost year later again come under the patrol of England, which later ceded to Ethiopia, Ogaden is one of the five great Somalia (The hargeisa, Djibouti …..e.t.c) but currently recognized as part of Ethiopia where its people deny the claims states that and call themselves ethnic Somalis , who’re originally Somalis and require freedom, so that they live like the rest of the people of the world.

The sunsets or rises everyday people of Ogaden observe the multi-killing carried out entire regions of the Ogaden by the Ethiopia soldiers whose aim to revenge whenever they are beaten (defeated battlefield) by the ONLF they go for revenge hunting innocent civilians, the stories in Ogaden is like lost calves found by hyena and as usual kills one at the time without sympathy .
Therefore the people of Ogaden as I stated above have being searching centuries for an autonomy state but possibly now this days as we heard or seen the media and the maturity of their struggle , we can sense or smack up the colors of Rainbow (independence).

The signs of independence Today, if we take a brief look at the early history records we will be able to evaluate the tangible changes had gained since those decades, what I mean is that today the ogadens had stood up as a nation and learnt from their mistakes.

And the other issues are the capability (quality) & the quantity of the Ogaden national Liberation Front (O.N.L.F) which said or witnessed speedily increasing day per day and untie the chains of colonial.

Some of few signs of independence which hopefully will prevail very soon are :

• The solidarity of Ogadens worldwide – wherever you look at, every angle of this earth your sight will capture the image of unity of the ogadens globally.
• The new upcoming leaders or educators who are extremely stood with their people thin & thick, saying no to colonialism through sharing awareness with their people.
• The availability strong military that can easily control & capable of guiding their territory.
• Before, earlier people were deaf about the situation but at the moment everyday so many websites owned by its people & from international media write about Ogaden & explode the untold stories.

Our ears felt jealous the sound that our ears received from Sudan, where the world granted the Southerners as an autonomy state and left us in perpetual violence although we encourage every human to live in peace, stability and prosperous life but if the world divided a nation of one people, shared same norms, customs and culture , why are they keeping us with wild life (Ethiopia) ,who feed on raw meat.

The International Community

Ogadens have done all possible efforts to liberate their land and up to today yet didn’t stop the gun shots to free their homeland from the filth amharous who invaded in the Ogaden soil.

Up to that point we can say the international community, United nations And all humanitarian organizations had implemented weak approaches to deal with the problematic issues that simultaneously happening in the region, perhaps the crimes records are available but yet it seems the world is turning blind eye into it.

I always criticize the so called human rights bodies which hired to assist the people on the ground and solve the human problems as they appear but do vice-versa to what they’re hired for, it’s really astonishing only few countries benefit what was meant for all.

Conclusion
We urge as Ogadens the international community, ICC court & all that concerned humanitarian aid to take immediate action denounce the daily crimes committed by the Ethiopian soldiers and those associated with them who’re trying to hide the genocide.

The Ogaden reject the Ethiopian way of live and said (we rather die our ways than live yours.)
*The true character of liberty is independence, maintained by force.*
By: Abdullahi Ahmed (Freedom Hassan)

Ogaden Emerges To be recognized as a Nation (Ogadenia wa qaraan ,qoomiyad weye farabada "Ogaden is a nation consist of multi-nationalism" ).By: Abdullahi Ahme

Most of us might not know or able to understand what the word (ogaadeen) stands for so in this research or notion of mind, I’ll try to breakdown vividly my understanding in addition with reliable sources /references.

1st definition, that how Wikipedia articulated
Ogaden (pronounced and often spelled Ogadeen; Somali) is the name of a territory that are predominately inhabitant to Ethnic Somalis, which geographically lies west of Somalia and southeastern of Ethiopia.
2nd definition let’s look briefly the origin of Ogaden as a term.
ogaadeen has meaning in Greek language, it means a high level land surface (plateau)
Ogaden is a plateau with an elevation above sea level around 1,5000 metres In northwest ,falling about 300 metres along the southern limits and River Shabelle valley. The areas with altitudes between 1,400 and 1,600 metres are characterized as semi-arid; receiving as much as 500–600 mm of rainfall annually.
Ogaden is No longer a tribe.
Its unease task to emphasize corrupted minds what Ogaden means , none can refuse every certain people that live together have divided in different sub-families in such cases , Ogaden have multi sub-clans.

Ogadens of Ogaden are approximately around 3-6 million & blessed a land enriched with all natural resources (Diamond , Raw product for industry, Animals of all kind etc).

If we impose to the reality (the Origin phrase) , Ogaden is well known tribe in the Somali society, where they have historical records in Kenya, Somalia and even the eastern Africa , some of the mentioned gentlemen in the world history are for instance, Sayid Mohamed Abdile Hassan (the great hero of Africa) , Maktal Dahir & So forth.
Every certain Creation whether an animal or Human have family, have a specific site to call home, specific people that they’re related with, why am I saying this? Ogaden isn’t a tribe but a grassroots of nation that consist of different many tribes, similarly to the other nations of the world.
Features contribute name giving.
In this sub-topic we will try to elaborate clearly, how names are given, who gives the name, what are the necessary aspects to consider before naming?
If we glanced back very quickly most of the countries of the world were either colonized or colonizers of the olden days and given names accordingly.
According to how names are given, I will take few countries & how their names match with its geographical occurrence.
Here below I will mention few steps that are considered for name giving.
- Geographical occurrence
- Famous river that passes the region
-The specific thing that the certain area is enrich with
and so On.
These are some little reasons considered when giving names.
Take for example :
Jordan, Washington (USA), Saudi Arabia, Nairobi (Kenya), Ogaden, all these names existed; they’re either a name of an individual, climatically expression or place.
Jordan (river) , Saudi (Family), Nairobi (Coldness) Ogaden (Family).
During the time of the colonial err, the British, the Italia & the rest of the colonizers, whenever they capture (discover) a territory they used to name either by its inhabitants or where it falls geographically.
Ogaden Is a Nation
What is being a nation?
A large aggregate of people united by common descent, history, culture, or language, inhabiting a particular country or territory.
Ogadenia wa qaraan ,qoomiyad weye farabada (Ogaden is a nation consist of multi-nationalism)
As a stated explicitly Ogaden have possession a territory that fully of all sort of natural resources, which is occupied forcefully by the Ethiopia.
Ogaden Territory is 3 times bigger than some of western countries, Middle East, its density is approximately around an area 179,252 km2 ,(69,210 sq mi).
Note: the ogaden long ongoing political,social controversy must be dealt in a proper manner in such that the world witnesses peacefully environment without disputation amongst other people rights.
giving self-determination to ogadens will never result decline to financial calculationsbut instead it will rise opportunities of allocating resources & decreasing unemployments through out the region.
The time has arrived, it can be done, it can be done, if only we play our part, its said when you fulfill your dreams is when everyone shows his/her interest behind your success, keep the struggle alive your day will hopefully come.

ONLF – Clarifying Ethiopian False claims against The Swedish Journalists illegally detained

                        





  Statement :
                               
                                                                      Date.October 17 2011

     ONLF – Clarifying Ethiopian False claims against The Swedish Journalists illegally detained


The Ethiopian regime of Meles Zenawei is going to charge Matin Schibbye and Johan Perrson tomorrow in A Kangaroo Court in Addis Ababa on a trumpeted charge of Terrorism. The regime has set up an elaborate program of manufacturing false and concocted ‘evidence’ after their ill-trained solders in Ogaden shot the unarmed Journalists in Ogaden. First they falsely claimed that they had captured two ONLF liberation Army members, in order to say later they have witnesses from ONLF to testify against the Journalists. No ONLF Liberation Army soldiers or members were captured with the two journalists, but since Ethiopia has succeeded in deluding even the UN Somalia Monitoring Group, who interviewed and used as evidence against Eritrea, tortured inmates in Jail ogaden, the Ethiopian regime is planning the same tactic in using poor victims in Jail ogaden to testify against the journalists.

Secondly, they manufactured a ‘video’ doctored with a few additions from the journalists personal souvenir clips and forced the journalists, in violation of the Geneva conventions, to implicate themselves. Furthermore, the regime claimed that the journalists were trained by ONLF fighter in Galkayo- Somalia to use small arms. No ONLF member is safe in Puntland, let alone having training camp there. It is on record that even civilians from Ogaden are harassed and forcefully sent back to Ethiopian security. Therefore, the claim that ONLF trained the Journalists is a baseless, cheap and pathetic attempt to hide a heinous crime committed by the Ethiopian Army. Actually, this is a clear proof to the world about culture and webs of lie this regime engages in in denying the rights of the Ogaden and Ethiopian peoples.

The Ethiopian government is greatly threatened specifically by these two journalists because it was afraid they will uncover the scorched earth policy and genocide it committed in Ogaden in order to clear the land for oil companies such as Lundin, which has now re-invented itself as African Oil, PETRONAS and others, in whose name hundreds of thousands of Ogaden Somalis were either displaced, killed or starved.

The Ethiopian government is systematically violating the Human, Economic, political and Humanitarian Rights of the Ogaden people. It is committing genocide in Ogaden by denying the people the right to life by blockading aid and trade against specific clans in Ogaden. Furthermore, ONLF was part of the government, during the transitional period in Ethiopia, but the regime denying ONLF the opportunity to pursue peacefully the right of the Ogaden people to self-determination by attacking ONLF and destroying the democratically elected Ogaden parliament in 1994. Hence, ONLF is fighting a defensive war that has been imposed on It by the Zenawi regime and has called on many occasions for an internationally mediated settlement of the Ogaden issue. Instead, Ethiopia refused all attempts by the international community to mediate and as such, the Ethiopian claim that ONLF is a terrorist organisation has no legal or moral basis. If the right of people to defend themselves from unjust rule is terrorism, Meles Zenawi himself and the TPLF would qualify for terrorism and all liberation movements including those that liberated USA and most of the African countries from colonialism and oppression would qualify as terrorists.

Finally, ONLF calls upon all people with conscience to condemn Ethiopian government mockery of justice and stand up for both the Journalists imprisoned and humiliated in Ethiopia and the voiceless multitudes in Ogaden and Ethiopia.

Ogaden National Liberation Front

STATEMENT Ethiopia: Killing Civilians and Humanitarian Workers in the Ogaden: Unacceptable, Repugnant and Immoral.

Although prestigious international and national human rights organizations, have issued several reports about well-documented human rights violations in the Ogaden and elsewhere in Ethiopia by the current Ethiopian government, the international community has remained tight-lipped about those violations for the last nineteen years. Nevertheless, the Ogaden Human Rights Committee has not given up hope of the international community's help to force Ethiopia to honour its commitments to internationally accepted human rights principles. Hence, the OHRC requests and recommends the following:

RECOMMEENDATIONS AND APPEALS:

To: International Community, United Nations, Ethiopian Government and Ogaden National Liberation Front:

The Ethiopian government and the Ogaden National Liberation Front, declare immediate, comprehensive, unconditional and verifiable cease-fire in the Ogaden.

The international community exert more pressure on all the parties to the conflict in the Ogaden in order to reach a peaceful negotiated settlement, which guarantees the Ogaden people’s inalienable right to self-determination through a fair and free referendum.

Since there is no confidence between the warring sides the Ogaden Human Rights Committee urges the United States and European Union to act as mediators and facilitators in order to put an end the senseless carnage in the Ogaden.

The Ogaden Human Rights Committee urges the Ethiopian government, the Ogaden National Liberation Front to allow all humanitarian and relief organisations to operate freely in the Ogaden as well as international and local human rights organisations and the international press.
Perpetrators of war crimes and other atrocities in the Ogaden should be brought before an international tribunal.

The United Nations appoint a Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Ogaden.
The Ethiopian government and Ogaden National Liberation Front give ICRC free access to all detainees in their custodies.

For the last sixteen years, aid workers in the Ogaden were abducted, harassed, intimidated and looted at gunpoint and each of the warring sides accused them of helping the other side.

Ethiopian Authorities, who do not like the outside world to know the real situation in the Ogaden, expelled International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) - Doctors without Borders and other International Humanitarian Organizations from the Ogaden, in July 2007. At the time the International Humanitarian Organizations, which operate in some parts of the Ogaden, expressed timidly their concern and apprehension at the Ethiopian government’s depopulation and starvation campaign in the region as well as mismanaging of the humanitarian aid and commandeering their transportation and using it for military purposes.

In April 2011, Mr Jakob Kellenberger, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), met in Addis Ababa with the Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and asked him the return of the ICRC delegation to the Ogaden to resume its humanitarian work. But the Ethiopian Prime Minister has refused his request.

The Ogaden Human Rights Committee deplores the Ethiopian government’s decision to not allow ICRC’s staff to resume its much needed humanitarian work in the Ogaden and demands its reversal as well as allowing more humanitarian and relief organisations to operate in the Ogaden without restrictions, regardless of nationality or religion.

On 14th May 2011, United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP) said that one of its drivers had been killed in an ambush by unknown gunmen in an attack that left another staff member wounded. Two other persons were also missing. The incident took place in Galaalshe, Fiiq region.

The Ogaden Human Rights Committee (OHRC) is shocked and distressed by the killing and targeting humanitarian workers in the Ogaden and extends its sincere condolences to the family and relatives who lost their loved one in this despicable terror attack, and asks for an independent, transparent and thorough investigation into the circumstances, which led to this human tragedy as well as the immediate and unconstitutional release of the missing two individuals.

The Ogaden Human Rights Committee reiterates its condemnation and disapproval of imposing restrictions on humanitarian organisations’ movements, intimidation and abduction of aid workers as well as targeting civilian population in the Ogaden.

As has been repeatedly documented by the Ogaden Human Rights Committee and international human rights organizations, the state of human rights in the Ogaden has gone from bad to worse in the recent past. The abysmal track record of the Ethiopian Government has been recently aggravated by natural calamities-mostly man made- and senseless wars, which had primarily been caused by the ill-devised policies of the current government.

Today, the situation in the Ogaden is very tense and alarming. The ongoing struggle for self-determination and independence in the Ogaden continues to cause more human suffering and threatens peace and stability in the volatile region of the Horn of Africa.

The Ethiopian government’s scorched earth policy in the Ogaden was in place since early 1992 when the ONLF has called for referendum on self-determination and independence for the Ogaden.

The Ethiopian government’s strategy in the Ogaden is based on; deliberate economic strangulation, political marginalization and use of brutal military force to suppress all legitimate demands from the population including the right to self-determination.

As a part of the Ethiopian government’s policy of starving out the civilian population in the Ogaden to submission, its army has imposed an economic blockade on many towns and villages in the region. This blockade has caused an enormous human suffering. The most affected areas by the military campaign are: the regions of Dhagaxbuur, Fiiq, Qabridaharre, Wardheer, Godey and some parts of Jigjiga, where many civilians were killed and their villages were depopulated by the government troops and allied militias, modelled on Sudanese Janjaweed militias, known locally as Liyu Police.

Article 54 -Protection of objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population -of the protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 states that "Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited. It is prohibited to attack, destroy, remove or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as foodstuffs, agricultural areas for the production of foodstuffs, crops, livestock, drinking water installations and supplies and irrigation works, for the specific purpose of denying them for their sustenance value to the civilian population or to the adverse party, whatever the motive, whether in order to starve out civilians, to cause them to move away, or for any other motives."

However, in an attempt to restrict people's movements, terrorize the civilian population and stop trade movements, the Ethiopian government has blocked up all commercial roads leading to the main commercial centres in the region. And confiscated lorries carrying food supplies in order to starve out the civilian population. It also depopulated and razed entirely to the ground many villages and hamlets.

There is no doubt that the human rights situation will continue to deteriorate dramatically in the Ogaden unless the international community steps in to stop the inhuman policies of the Ethiopian government in the Ogaden.

The Ogaden conflict is not different from other conflicts in the world, which the international community is involved and committed to resolving as a mediator or facilitator. The last conflict in Africa, which was resolved through negotiation with the help of the international community, was the war in the Southern Sudan. The conflict in the Ogaden deserves the attention and the positive intervention of the international community.