The Ethiopian Army, fulfilling Meles Zenawi Callous call to punish the Ogaden people, has unleashed widespread ethnic cleansing campaign in the Ogaden. On January 16, 2011 the Ethiopian Army, stormed the police station at mid-night and took away 19 civilian detainees, who were rounded by the Ethiopian security in Qabri-dahar the previous week. Some of these people were civil servants working for the regional administration, international NGO’s, the UN and local businesses. The next morning on the 17th of January, the bodies of Mr Abdirizak Hurre Osman, a graduate from Hawasa University working for the water Agency serving the three regional administrations of Qabri-Dehar, Godey and Wardheer; Mr Subaan Ahmed Khalif, a businessman were publicly displayed in the Qabri-dehar town centre. Wires that were used to asphyxiate the victims were left wrapped around their necks for further terrifying the towns’ people.
Town’s people report that the Ethiopian Army took the rest of the victims to unknown destination and their fate is uncertain. The names of the victims identified are listed below.In a parallel campaign in Degahbur area, the Ethiopian Army looted the town of Higlalay, beheading Ms Amina Ali Madobe with a knife in the village centre and wounded more than 27 people, who were put in detention pens in the Army camp without medicine or food. Mr Ibrahim Mohamed Yusuf and Mr Badri Mohamed Aw-Ismail later died in detention. The rest of the town residents fled to the surrounding area. Since it is at the height of the dry season and both water and food are scarce there is an urgent need of humanitarian aid for the victims, but the same army that is committing these crimes controls aid.
This practice has intensified since the dictator, Meles Zenawi, vowed to punish the Ogaden people for supporting the ONLF who are struggling for the rights of the Ogaden people to a genuine self-determination as accorded to the south Sudanese people.
The Ogaden National Liberation Front calls upon the UN and the international community to act swiftly and intervene in the hidden ethnic cleansing the Ethiopian Army is conducting in the Ogaden.
Partial list of identified victims harmed by the Ethiopian Army
The Ogaden National Liberation Front
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