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Ethiopian
Rebel Group Denies Support From Eritrea |
By Alisha Ryu
Nairobi
25 April 2007
Ryu
report - download 351K
Listen to Ryu report
An Ethiopian separatist group, which has
claimed responsibility for Tuesday's bloody
attack on a Chinese-run oil field, is
denying allegations by Addis Ababa that arch
rival Eritrea is supporting the rebels in
their bid to destabilize Ethiopia. VOA
Correspondent Alisha Ryu in our East Africa
Bureau in Nairobi has this report.
Condemning what the Ethiopian government
called a terrorist attack, Addis Ababa says
the rebels of the Ogaden National Liberation
Front, known by the initials ONLF, worked
side-by-side with Eritrea in carrying out
Tuesday's raid on a remote oil field in
eastern Ethiopia's ethnically-Somali Ogaden
region.
Ethiopia says neighboring Eritrea is using
the ONLF to start a proxy war to destroy
Ethiopia's economy. The two nations have
been bitter enemies since they fought an
unresolved border war nearly a decade ago.
A member of parliament in Somalia's
Ethiopian-backed transitional government,
Awad Mohamed Ashureh, says his government is
also deeply concerned about what it also
believes are deliberate efforts by Eritrea
to create trouble for Ethiopia.
The governments of Somalia, Ethiopia, and
the United States have accused Eritrea of
providing weapons and training to radical
Islamists in Somalia, who are among hundreds
of insurgents currently battling Ethiopian
troops in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.
"We were trying to have negotiations between
the ONLF and the government of Ethiopia.
Now, it seems that Eritreans are igniting
the situation by supporting dissidents and
the opposition in Ethiopia. This will have
an impact on the whole Horn of Africa,"
Ashureh says.
In a telephone interview with VOA, ONLF's
vice chairman, Abdul Khadir Hassan,
dismissed allegations that Eritrea is
providing his group with weapons and other
supplies.
The rebel leader said that the ONLF has no
problem obtaining guns at any time from a
wide variety of people and groups throughout
the region - even from the Ethiopian army.
"Everywhere, you can get arms. There is
weapon in Somalia, Ethiopia, even Ethiopian
soldiers, they give us. There is corruption
inside the Ethiopian army," Hassan says.
Officials in Asmara also denied that Eritrea
is aiding the separatist ONLF They accuse
Addis Ababa of using Eritrea as a scapegoat
for its inability to settle disputes with
Ethiopia's numerous ethnic groups.
Nine Chinese oil workers and at least 65
Ethiopians were reportedly killed during the
hour-long gun battle Tuesday, which the ONLF
described as a military operation against
Ethiopian troops guarding the oil facility.
Chinese and Ethiopian officials say seven
Chinese workers were also abducted. But the
ONLF says it is holding six workers and they
are being treated well.
The ONLF was formed in 1984 to fight what it
calls the marginalization and brutalization
of ethnic Somalis by the Ethiopian
government. About a year ago, the separatist
group warned foreign oil companies not to
make deals with the Ethiopian government
because Addis Ababa did not have any
authority in the Ogaden region.
--VOA |
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