Ogaden Online: The official homepage of Ogaden on the Internet

Well Done..

It's great to read your timely and on the point resjponse to the idiocy .

Well done

Karie- great article we need more youth such as your self. I was very proud to red this

Great piece and you aure put Mr. Gurhan in his place. You have asked a great question as to why Mr. Gurhan is living in the West if Ethiopian was such a great country and would be interesting to read Mr. Gurhan's answer. I am sure he will try to blame it on ONLF as always.


Its unfortunate that Mr. Gurhan could not see things for what they are and comprehend the situation while his teen daughter showed a great grasp of the matter and intellects. He brought his daughter into discussion obviously to score a point, I am sure wihout her knowledge but it works against him and shows how out of touch he is and his lack of compassion for the sufferings of his folks back home

During brief time of peace of 1992-1993, ONLF scored unprecedent and unparalleled political victory in the polling stations throught the Ogaden. Had the psychopath Meles Zenawi and his terrorist TPLF gangsters ever believed in genuine democracy and respected the outcome of the election, ONLF by now would have legitimately ruled the Ogaden. It has proved itself through ballot boxes that it has been and remains a popular, broad-based, grassroots' organization but it was not to be. The 1993 election result was never intended to be respected or democracy be practised in Ethiopia. It was a concoction and deception tool to solicit political and fiancial support from outside world, particularly the Westerners.

Consequently, ONLF read TPLF intention accurately and began waging a bitter armed struggle against the Woyanne since 1994. ONLF started its confrontation at the height of the TPLF power and inflated believe of invincibilty particularly when other Ethiopian opposition groups were hesitant. For all those 15 years, ONLF and its people have been scoring success after one another without any meaningful external help.

ONLF and its ever patient but extremely committed Ogadeni people defied all the odds of the time. TPLF, in order to weaken ONLF, tried to no avail to divide and separate the people from the organization. Besides, to force the populace into submission, TPLF employed the most ruthless and draconian means available to them to terrorize, intimidate, and dishearten the people including rape, linching, public killings coupled by denial of corpses burial, never-ending collective punishment of mass imprisonment and trade blockage to starve the whole population. As that did not borne the desired fruit, TPLF intimadated neighbouring regions of Somalia, established puppet and pseudo local administrations and used them to hunt down ordinary Ogadenis in their midst and hand them back to the Woyanne. Furthermore, trying to take advantage of the change of contemporary political wind, TPLF worked long and hard to get ONLF stamped the terrorist label. None of the above worked. In fact, the result of all of that could not have been more diametrically opposite. ONLF and its people rather became one and the same and ever more determined than before.

Today under ONLF's belt is 15 years of hard earned battlefield experience, thousands of hardened fighters who increase in number by the day, ever determined and hardened mass of Ogadenis who TPLF itself despaired from dissuading them from the struggle. That is the home front. On the external front, ONLF continues scoring substantial diplomatic and political successes. Moreover, it commands the unreserved support of the diaspora less few ones like Mr. Gurhan who are dwindling both in numbers and intensity. Such souls are guarantee to extinct.

Finally, considering the end of cold war and the subsquent political alignment in the world plus the collapse of the state of Somalia and its ramifications within the region of Horn of Africa, ONLF's achievement in the short 15 years of armed struggle is mammoth thanks to far sighted political leadership, unmatched courage of ONLA and determined populace.

Well said Adam. I know Gurhan's younger brother Ahmed Gurhan who is ONLF representative in Europe. He is doing good job for his people. He is fluent in French and RFI (Radio France International) interviewed him couple of times the situation in Ogaden.

No one needs this retired and confused Diplomat. Hope his daughter won't listen to him and will join the thousand of Ogaden Youths who are contributing the betterment of our people, like Abdifatah Karie..

i have yet to figure what the people who wright the website, xaajo, want. they consistently bash the ONLF and while they hintingly cheer for the Kilil and the ethiopian government they , at the same time, also praise an organization (UWSLF or alitihad who come and go as the seasons come and go) that claims to fight ethiopia.

for sometime know their tone and choice of writing have been changing more to pro kilil and anti-ONLF to the point that they don't even wright their meaningless never the less long runing "qulbi dumey" stories. instead they replaced them with unsubstantiated and outlandish claims of ONLA wrong doings in the region.

if somebody in the board nows more about the people who run xaajo i would like to know what thier beef is?

are they behaving this way because of personal/clan Vendetta against some people in the liberation movement?

or

is it something along the lines of conflict of interest? mybe politically, financially, personal aggrandizement and ONLF just happens to be in the way.

well-done karie, its greate article. Xaajo and its Contributors are nonsense and always lie

Whilst I see from where you are coming from and your good intention, I do not think it is helpful to bring Ahmed Gurhan into the frame, and assuming the author of the idiocy is the Gurham you discribed.

Regards.

We choose to be critical of anything or anyone, and while some of us believe that ONLF is not doing anything good for them they are fighting for, so you can not expect anything but criticism from others, and criticism helps to correct something when something is wrong .. And those who talk negative about ONLF are people who doubt, and believe that they harm more than they benefit, and therefore have a desire to minimize the damage, or simply because they are bought to be corrupt, and have more interest to have food on the table at the expense of their fellow Ogadens...

I am personally opposed to many of the ways onlf work, and I have therefore chosen to be one who does not support ONLF, and prefer not to work against what they do for their people, rather appreciate any one who might do something to prevent the suffer of my Ogaden, and in my opinion, so they do something which is more or less positive..

I agree with you, no need to drag Mr. Ahmed Gurhan into this.

While I agree with you that constructive criticisms is good.

Now, ONLF is the ONLY viable organization we have at the moment. If you do not like what they are doing, what do you think is the solution for the suffering of our people?

ONLF is doing what many generation ago have tried to achieve. the only difference is that onlf is self reliance organization who depends the support of its people!

As you claimed if ONLF is causing more harm than good to the people they are fighting for, then they won't exit today.

Regards
Bulaale

I have nothing against ONLF generally, and if the results were more visible of what they do, I would also support them fully, but I have seen what they do has brought more harm than good whether you agree or not..And we need different thinkin people, therefore can we 2gether play better with our destiny, and we can change something for the next generation ..

And why should I as Ogaden be more proud than all the different clans living in the region? And why should not we be able to change something if what generations have done has not it been the solution .. What should we do to get them in our struggle against Ethiopia? Can I as Ogaden be the solution to the problems of the 35 million Ethiopian Muslims? And what is the main reason that the world shuts its eyes to this never-ending battle for freedom?

I have lost a father, and more than anyone wants to see that ONLF succeed in the war against Ethiopia, but honestly, Somali waxay ku maahmahdaa gacmo WADA jir ayay wax ku gooyaan, therefore, more than any other need that the inhabitants living in the region are united with us, but if we are arrogant enuff to believe that winning the war one day, then we might as well think again ...

This response was towards Mohammed Gurhan who wrote a midly retarted article on xaajo.com therefore kariye had every right to include his name...if Gurhan and others like him believe ONLF is not the solution to the problems of the ogaden ppl then what have they done for tehre ppl??????? NOTHINg but praise their tigray masters.....

Mohammed gurhan and others like him are useless nothing more nothing less...

Kariye-Great work

Please, hold your horses back for the daylight racing! You obviously misread my message for Bulaale, who fully understood it and responded to it accordingly. Or is it the case that you were responding to someone else but mistakenly put my name as the addressee of your email?

Never-the-less, the struggle needs people like you who are carrying their clubs and do not hesitate to hit right in the face of anyone with a bad mouth, though, at times you might miss your target and hit the wrong person. Never- mind, I take it as a collatral damage.

Very kind regards - Budul

Ogaden Mullah,

Instead of criticising ONLF for what they have not achieved so far why don't you see and appreciate what they have already done and achieved against all the odds as articulated above by Mr. Adam. You seem to see the glass half empty rather than half full.
Also, it is unfair and rather cynical to claim that ONLF does more harm than good. ONLF began its activity inside Ogaden in 1992. Are you then implying that we were enjoying ourselves before that?. Were we well off in 1980s, 1970s, 1960s and decades before that?. Lets get real and wise up. The beheadings of Ogadenis and placing their dismembered heads on top of empty drums at the centre of towns for display comes to mind and that was in early 1960s. Mind you, ONLF didn't exist then to do more damage than good!.

Moreover, no you can not be the solution to the problems of the 35 million Ethiopian Muslims and niether can or should be ONLF's either. It is not ONLF's business and it never claimed to be fighting for the 35 million Muslims in Ethiopia?.ONLF's struggle is not one of faith but a nationalist (ethnic). It is about the self determination of the ethnic Somalis under Ethiopian rule. There are Muslims in almost every Ethiopian ethnic group and they have different political outlook and aspirations than us. In fact, some of them have been the very source of our oppression. ONLF has nothing to do with them because our struggle is NOT a faith - based endeavour but a nationalist one.

And where have you gotten this bizarre claim that "we" are prouder than the other Somalis in the country and by extension are looking them down?. Why am I smelling that you are upto something here while masquerading somebody's identity?.

As for "gacmo WADA jir ayay wax ku gooyaan" and "I have lost a father". In other words, lets build a bigger and more inclusive tent. Putting it in another way, allegedly some quarters of the Somali community are not participating in the struggle and somehow it is ONLF's fault. That premise simply doesn't hold water: First there is no prove that ONLF did not apeal to us all in fact the opposit is rather true. Second in the 1970s, in the hope of uniting all the Somalis in Ogaden the rather confusing name "Western Somali Liberation Front (WSLF)" was for the first time being foolishly introduced into the political arena and vocabulary of the country and of some of us, you probably belong to this group, rejected it instanteously and off hand. Mr. Mullah, I am afraid this argument of yours is an old, time tested, stale and nonesensical argument that we are all aware of. It did not work then, it is not working now and there is no reason to expect it to work in the future and probably does not even merit mentioning it. Genuinely speaking, no one should expect to be invited to the struggle. It is everyone's struggle, if you believe it, and no one needs to seek permission to participate in it.
It is a known psychology of a group not wanting to do anything by themselves and probably are unable to do it anyway, while at the same time trying their best to blame, obstruct and hold others back from stepping foreward and discourge them from doing what they want to do. ONLF understood this nonsense and, without disrespect to the onlookers, refused to be held hostage and with or without their participation went ahead with the struggle. Weird thing is that instead of being grateful that someone else is doing the job for them they, rather than remaining polite spectators, naggingly keep complaining just about everthing and everyone-- Something akin to a spoiled child's attitude.

They can keep doing what they are good at and is known to continue doing til the cows come home. However, the ONLF train has long left the platform and has no intention of waiting for those would be passengers who didn't mean to ride it in the first place but are there to complain about the train having left them behind anyway.

Thank you very much for your well written response to OG-Mullah in a white and black way. You have spoken for millions, dead or alive, and certainly for me.

Believe you me tears filled in the eyes of an elderly Ogadenian when I read for him your above response as it reminded him, the cruelty of the Ethiopians and the display of the heads of Abdi-barqab and Abdi-qas in 1963 among many incidents.

You have ariticulated in a small box all that we would like to hear.

Thanks for ever.

Budul

This site is getting a face-lift.

I hope great minds like Adam, Ahmed halgan, Bulaale, Budul, Ali, and adversaries like Mullah and others would stick around and continue to contribute to these lively debates. I certainly enjoy reading about their ideas then flounting around my ignorance and brandishing tired cliches.

I also hope the ideas of our ardent oponents are not censored, including those writen by people from Maqale carrying Somali names.

Last but not least, I hope we exercise some courtesy and civility in our exchanges and avoid vulgarity.

You guys are way way behind,what do you talking about onlf the did great job for ogadenia just think before onlf what we had nothing, they cantrol most of the ogedenia,don't ever dived our people,do you guys understand me,what you opposed for you guys are stick on the door, that means you go to south to the north. I want say this our nation is just one not two our troops are just one,that's onlf your opinios are trash.we need to go just one fraction,onlf they will never ever did samething harmful their people.but they did samething helpful for ogadenia I give you example who's know you before onlf now all of the wourld knows ogadenia,don't hides your true then our leaders they did great job to our people,and also I don't know what do you against for idont understand, that point we don't need sameone who has explosive ideas ,we need someone who understand what happing in ogadenia,let me tell you something about freedom,freedom it's not samthing easer,freedom it's hard this is your examble Eritria they were fighting their freedom for 40.years or more what do they have now tell me they beautiful country and freedom,then ogadenia they will be the next freedom country,so wait don't to fast onlf and their leaders they diong great job.

You guys are way way behind,what do you talking about onlf the did great job for ogadenia just think before onlf what we had nothing, they cantrol most of the ogedenia,don't ever dived our people,do you guys understand me,what you opposed for you guys are stick on the door, that means you go to south to the north. I want say this our nation is just one not two our troops are just one,that's onlf your opinios are trash.we need to go just one fraction,onlf they will never ever did samething harmful their people.but they did samething helpful for ogadenia I give you example who's know you before onlf now all of the wourld knows ogadenia,don't hides your true then our leaders they did great job to our people,and also I don't know what do you against for idont understand, that point we don't need sameone who has explosive ideas ,we need someone who understand what happing in ogadenia,let me tell you something about freedom,freedom it's not samthing easer,freedom it's hard this is your examble Eritria they were fighting their freedom for 40.years or more what do they have now tell me they beautiful country and freedom,then ogadenia they will be the next freedom country,so wait don't to fast onlf and their leaders they diong great job.

I believe onlf they doing great job,can you ever ask your self what we had before onlf,
I can give you answer for that we didn't have anything we were a zero and now you can see your own eyes how much onlf succeed.then our society are happy with onlf individually we can discussed some I deas but not negative always support ogadenia thanks you all

Sixid yar
qofka qoraalka Qoray ma aha ka aad u malaynaysaan,
Safiirka Cali Cabdi Gurxan ayaa la yiraahdaa, qoraalkan waxaa qoray Maxamed waxaan jeclahay in uu yahay mid buugaagta Novellada ah qori jirey ee sidaas u ogaada oo Gurxan ku yuusan idin qaldin
Just FYI.

i want ask you this what did we have before onlf can you tell me i believe we have good troops ,m this time because you can see how they doing great job onlf is only troops we have so dont attack them we need to support them any time and where i see most your comments are not support ogadenia , if you not support onlf what do you guys have i think ogadenia people they have enough enemy we are fighting like 85 million Ethiopian and some somlia who support the woyaena so please we need to come to gether we gana win inthe future .

Budul,

I do acknowledge and thank you for the kind words. We all can learn from one another. For instance, I wasn't sure about the exact year when the beheading of Abdi-barqab and Abdi-qas, that was one of many, took place but to my delight you provided it.

Once again thanks a lot and also my appreciation to Mr. Abdifatah Karie, the author of the article.

Sometimes dreams is the direct results of improper and unrealistic minds,ogaden ogaden yaa illaahii! it's the time to look back inorder to undrestand what the future holds for you.

the visible suffering is uncomparable the inner agony that deprives this people.to me it's time to say No to the so called "UBO" when No is meaningfull to our very existence!

........and say yes to what?

Give us a break!. This debate is for those who have dreams for the future of their people . If you CAN NOT dream, then, your soul is none existent contrary to the "our very existence." you mentioned.

As to the "UBO" - the abusive language you are indulging in, may well be accommodated by the Junk Websites- not here.

To Dalmar, please name one good thing that the Ethiopian government has done for the Somali people ? I find it very hard to understand the mindset of people who proudly praise the Ethiopian occupation as if the Ogaden region is one of the worlds most developed regions of the world.

Dalmar, you and others like yourself need to come back to reality and face the damn truth ETHIOPIA has no desire to uplift or address the many grievances of the Somali people. However individuals like yourself who are stuck in the slave mentality are unable OR unwilling to come to this realization, which is very disturbing…..

My grandfather and thousands of other brave men and women shed their blood to free our land, accepting Ethiopian colonization is an absolute insult to our culture, history and forefathers.

"Unlike you I’m a dreamer who knows his path. You’re a flip flopper and a coward. Insults are the weapon of the weak and retarded."
kkkkkkk, if iam not mistaking that's what you said to your self,insulting people yet saying insults are the weapon of the weak and retarded!

wiilyahoow bear in mind it's natural for a men to have different views in every aspect of life

...And what's your opinion with regards to our struggle?

Let me guess: say no to UBO?

You're such a disappointment.

You referred to our people as a "deprived" people (physically, mentally and intellectually), and concluded that the only way to rescue them is to say “NO” to the only movement that is committed to their survival.
If I insulted you alone, which was an error in judgment, you insulted many of us by calling us 'UBO'--a derogatory term coined by Ina Ileey of all people!

I am wondering how a relatively intelligent person like you could become an echo-chamber for the likes of Cabdi Ileey.

I have said and will say it again that I am personally more thankful than anyone else for what ONLF has done, even though we have different opinions on what they have done has been beneficial than it has harmed us, but only that they have the will to sacrifice their lives should be valued by every Muslim who has a little idea what my people have been through since Ahmed Guray and Siyad Mohammed. And you, I and we all want everything to go in the right direction, so instead of agreeing on how to make the best possible for our people, if you accused for being lazy and do not want deep down that my people suffer less, then you are wrong, and you did not manage to understand me completely, and you only you have chosen to read the portion of text you wanted, and therefore you came to this to conclusion .. And I'm not even surprised that you started to doubt my identity, it is oki to doubt the other `s identities, but I wished it was possible to prove to you without fear of being killed when I travel to Ethiopia next time ..

And furthermore, I believe that the fault in our unsuccessful efforts of the freedom of self-determination and freedom to be a part of Somalia is that we think highly of ourselves, and ignore all the people living in the region, as if they do not have a significant for our efforts to achieve freedom to be ruler of his country, but we forget that they also belong to this country, and is part of the solution to the problems we face in the hard time when the world does not care whether we were eradicated in a day or less, because we have no any significant because of our faith, and therefore we are forced to unite against the Christians who have chosen to support Ethiopia unconditional. and you claimed that Muslim should be directly responsible for that we are oppressed, you are wrong, the Oromos are the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia, and they are opressed aswell...



I wish that we Muslims forget about the small conflicts between us unless we want to support the extermination of Muslims in Ethiopia and other parts of the world .. And how can we do? We can do this by becoming more convinced about our Muslim values instead of being proud of clan-based ideologies, and Allah `s words it is most important for every Muslim and that is how it should be the end of our days .. Allah says in Quran that 10 true Muslims are the same as hundreds of non-Muslims. and 100 of us are the same as 1000, and therefore we must work on our faith beliefs, because we would be invincible in war , and my brother in Islam, you should not fear the world's opinions, because we share nothing with them, and you see today that they support unconditional Ethiopia .. Even Somalis who support Ethiopia indirectly would not interfere, but now that we are fighting a war that has so much to do with our true identity. they may perceive us as enemies ..

A man who is bought to be a traitor, he is not worth your time, so I suggested that you do not spend much of your time to answer him .. Unbelievable that somone can believe that Ethiopia wants to solve the problems we have when they have always been those who have caused problems ..

WAXA LA YIDHI, "DAMEERTU IYADAA GEELA DIDISAY IYADAANA BURURUFLAYN".

Dalmar, laba kala daa: inaad isticmaasho luqadda Iney Ileey ee ah "UBO" iyo wax la mid ah oo aad dhiigayaga qubanaaya iyo XASUUQA UMMADDAYADA cay noogu darto , isla markaana ay ku dhibto jawaabta Nuradin oo ah mid kugu haboonayd.