An Ethiopian rebel group is urging the international community to intervene to avoid another “African genocide” at the hands of the central government there. The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) said in a statement that the Ethiopian government was sanctioning war crimes in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia, near the border with Somalia. A United Nations fact finding mission to examine the allegations was hampered by government refusal to allow investigators in certain areas. The U.N. has not released its findings and aid organizations, such as the Red Cross and Medecins Sans Frontieres, also claim they are being denied to the areas where the atrocities allegedly occured.
The ONLF called on the U.N. to investigate “rape, torture, [and] gunshot wounds” at the hands of troops under Ethiopian Prime Minister's Meles Zenawi's central government. The ONLF alleges that the government was punishing civilians after the government launched a prodigious military campaign against the rebels. Earlier this year, 74 people were killed during a raid at a Chinese-run oil exploration field. In a statement, the ONLF said that the government's campaign “continues to be a campaign of state-sponsored terror that largely avoids engagements with ONLF forces and instead focuses on collectively punishing our civilian population.”
There has been no independent verification of the claims by either side. Both central government officials and ONLF rebel leaders blame each other for the death of hundreds of civilians. ONLF statements claim the government had manipulated the U.N. mission and prevented its access to certain areas of concern. Ethiopian officials, however, dismiss those claims. “They said it is good that the U.N. has sent the fact-finding missions. And now when the facts from the ground are found to be not supported their claims, they are fighting the fact-finding mission,” an adviser to the prime minister said.
ONLF rebels are fighting for autonomy in the Ogaden region, which is ethnically Somali. Ethiopia recognizes the group as a terrorist organization supported by its rival, and neighboring, Eritrea.
