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First Hand
Accounts of Ethiopian Brutality in Ogaden |
June 18, 2007
For years, few brave Ogaden Online and Radio
Xoriyo reporters did their best to cover the
endless reign of terror inflicted on the
Ogaden populace by the Ethiopian army and
its associated militias. These local
journalists have done so despite tremendous
risks to their lives.
Ethiopia succeeded to restrict all,
including all foreign journalists, from
having access to the Ogaden people. The
Addis Ababa autocracy knew full well that if
foreign journalists, especially the
investigative reporters, get to Ogaden,
they, journalists, will present the world
first hand the extent of the Ethiopian
brutality against the Ogaden people.
The Addis Autocracy reasoned that so long as
no foreign journalist sees Ogaden and
reports first hand, any Ogaden Online or
Radio Xoriyo reporting of Ethiopian gang
rapes, illegal detentions, and extra
judicial killings could be explained away as
biased reporting.
Finally it appears determined and brave
journalists from the esteemed
New York
Times have succeeded in
getting to Ogaden unimpeded. These brave
reporters have seen first hand the brutality
and endless reign of terror faced by the
Ogaden people. They have even faced the same
brutality when they have been illegally
detained, physically abused, equipment
confiscated, and finally prevented to have
access to their embassy for days.
These
New York
Times reporters could not
have said better when they wrote …in
village after village, people said they had
been brutalized by government troops. They
described a widespread and longstanding
reign of terror, with Ethiopian soldiers
gang-raping women, burning down huts and
killing civilians at will…
Ogaden Online editorial board understands
the risks undertaken by these courageous
journalists from the
New York
Times. We applauds
New
York Times reporters
for their exceptional, first hand reporting
from Ogaden. We hope the world community
will not only see the plight of the Ogaden
people in print and in
video
but will bring the reign of terror
perpetrated by the Addis Autocracy against
the Ogaden people to an end.
editorial@ogaden.com
Ogaden Online Editorial
June 18, 2007 |
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