The Ogaden civilians have experienced many forms of collective punishment on the hands of the Woyane and its affiliated militias in Ogaden. The
latest form of punishment is the forcing of innocent civilians to pay a ransom for escapees from the militia locally known as the ‘Liyou police.’
It is no secret that this militia has lately experienced mass defections and escapees of many of its new recruits. For what reliable sources have termed as nothing more than a licensed looting, the militia heads have demanded from clan elders that each elder should pay a sum of 10,000 Birs
for any militia escapee from the clan or tribe. It is worth noting that the elders were never consulted when the said militia members were being recruited in the first place.
This new form of forcing civilians to pay for something that they were not responsible for has been taking place form months now. One such incident
took place in the town of Sagag in early March. It was reported by eyewitnesses that the local militia head a man nicknamed Dhagawayne convened a meeting for all the tribal heads in the area. Present in the meeting was also the so-called chairman of the town, a man named Xayi Badhi.
The two men instructed the elders to pay 10,000 Birrs per each militia escapee from one’s clan or tribe. Given the number of escapees reported by the militia head, the respective clans were required to pay ransom as follows: 
The elders were shocked to hear such gruesome form of collective punishment. One of the elders asked the militia head whether he had consulted them when he recruited the so-called militia escapees. The militia head was quite incensed by the question posed by one of the elders.
While eyewitnesses have informed our reporter in the area of severe beatings of the elders on the hands of the militia, so far we have been able to confirm the severe beatings suffered by the following two elders: Haji Mohamed who is said to be advanced in age and Aw Axmed Alaaki better
known as Qoorgaab who is said to be a septuagenarian.
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