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San Diego Ogaden Community Condemns Mass Murder in Ogaden
May 31, 2011 · 27 Comments
On Sunday May 29th, 2011, hundreds of people from the Ogaden American Community of San Diego gathered to pray and condemn the mass killing of civilians and the murder and kidnap of the WFP workers by Ethiopian military forces in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia this past week. As one elder stated “This community stands in solidarity with the oppressed people of Ogaden,” The event was organized by the Ogaden Youth and Student Union of San Diego a youth wing of OAC San Diego, and it was to raise awareness about the current dire situation taking place in the Ogaden, where thousands of people are being rounded up and being systematically killed by Ethiopian government forces and its sponsored militias. The event highlighted many crucial aspects about the current plight of the Ogaden people in Ethiopia.
The Ogaden region of Ethiopia is today one of the worst crisis taking place in East Africa. Millions of people are facing starvation, government repression, and environmental disaster. This year’s lack of rainfall has further deteriorated the already dire humanitarian crisis that has been taking place in the Ogaden since 2007. The humanitarian, economic and political blockade placed on the Ogaden by the Ethiopian government has destroyed and continues to destroy hundreds of thousands and millions of lives. Many genocide observers and human rights groups have raised serious concerns about the current situation in the Ogaden, and many have called it a hidden genocide.
Just last week, top U.S Senators, humanitarian organizations, human rights groups, and U.N officials have all raised worry about the serious human rights violations being committed by the Ethiopian government. Meles Zanawi a dictator who has been in power for more than 20 years has shown no respect and honor for democracy, human rights and human decency. Government sponsored militias known as Liyuu Police have recently posted a gruesome video detailing the mass murder of innocent civilians in rural communities in the Ogaden, You Tube has removed it due to the disgusting and inhuman nature of the video. This shows the character of the ruthless Ethiopian government and its callous campaign against the people of Ogaden.
The Ethiopian government has recently denied ICRC from operating in the Ogaden, the Ogaden Somali community of San Diego demands that the international community intervene and immediately pressure the Ethiopian government to lift the illegal humanitarian blockade on the Ogaden, and send an immediate humanitarian assistance to the region. The San Diego Ogaden community also urges the international community to send a fact-finding mission to the region to record the human rights violations and the crimes against humanity that has been occurring in the region for the past decade. Millions of lives are at stake, the Ethiopian dictatorship led by Meles Zanawi has done everything in it power to conceal the atrocities that are being committed against the people of Ogaden. It is the responsibility of the United Nations and the entire international community to uphold the principle of human rights and human dignity. The plight of the Ogaden people has gone silenced for far too long. The Ogaden Somali community, which is among the largest Somali communities in the Country, sends a clear message to Washington to stop supporting the Ethiopian government and their genocidal campaign against the innocent people of Ogaden.
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By Mo Guled
Readers Comments (27)
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"….the murder and kidnap of the WFP workers by Ethiopian military forces in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia this past week."
What kind of article is this? This looks like it was written by an onlf terrorist, the WFP workers were contracted and hired by the Ethiopian government. Why should they kill them?
It was onlf who committed the killing and kidnapping of the aid workers who they later claimed to have "found" rescued from soldiers. They are responsable for creating the chaos. They always target aid workers, oil diggers, researchers even teachers. They are trying to put the blame on the gov to cover their terrorist actions.
you know, alot times people just don't think about their comments and how seious they can get,nevertheless, I wouldn't like anybody that wants keep Ogadenia part of Ethiopia, and the reason is because, the ethiopian government is commitingg crimes against humaity, the Ogaden tripe is mor than eighty percent of the population in the region and I love the fact that ONLF is not a terrorist gruop and not considered one by the global community and anyone that is patriotic from ogaden region, the ethiopian government is copying hitler's tricks to keep the genocide in the secret but then unlukily for the ethiopian regime there are brave witnesses who say no to second holocaust
for facts about that ogaden genocide visit
ogadenlive.webs.com
Thank you somaliland press for publishing this article
First and foremost, SomalilandPress should avoid publishing articles without researching the fact behind them.
Secondly, there are too many claims and counter-claims from this region. Therefore, I think it is important for the UN and the international community to send a fact finding mission to all the parts of this region in order to establish the truth. If it turns out that these claims are a propaganda by the ONLF and that its them who commit crimes against the foreign workers and others in the region, then they should be condemned by all. On the other hand, if its found that the Ethiopian regime is indeed committing a genocide, then the international community has an obligation to stop it and frankly Somaliland and Djibouti should then break all their diplomatic and trade relations with Ethiopia. After all the Ogaden people are our Somali brothers and sisters and hence ought to be defended by all Somalis. Indeed Somaliland should stand shoulder to shoulder with all the oppressed people regardless of their ethnicity or religion. Oppression is wrong, period.
Somalilandpress is publishing any garbage now days.
Well said Abraham, critical yet objective. Some people believe cursing or insulting a group of people they hate or dispise will help them achieve some of their goals. We need to know the facts on the ground without bias and propaganda, only then should those neighbors be expected to press Ethiopia to respect human right and end oppression of the Oromo in Southern Ethiopia and Somali people in Kaliisha 5aad.
I don't agree though that SomalilandPress is doing any thing wrong in this article besides reporting some facts already out there, reported by Human Rights watch Agencies and as well as reporting what demonstrators are saying on the streets of America. Simply put they are not a mouth piece for any one and I am proud of them, Good job Somalilandpress.
TO Caasha. There is no such thing called Kilil5 to begin with, this is made by Tigre regime who illegally occupy Ogadenia.
Second, what more do you need to know when every human rights group, the US state department annual human rights report on Ethiopia clearly documents what is going on on the ground in Ogaden region, when EU parliament held so many meetings regarding the gross human rights violations in Ogaden region, when all the major world newspapers including New-york times published articles, particularly Ny-times who had its Nairobi bureau chief Mr. Jeffrey Gettleman went inside Ogaden region and risk his life to get to the bottom of the atrocities and showed the world what indeed is happening there, when US showed images from its satellite over Ogaden region clear images of village burning by the Ethiopian militia, the images showed before and after pictures of villages the way they were and after they were burned to the ground.
Caasha, I can continue until morning to give you facts and more facts for you to believe that there is a systematic hidden genocide in Ogaden region against innocent nomads living there, hidden of-course from the rest of the world because of a total media blockade in the Ogaden region.
If Somalilandpress chose to publish today what was known to the world for some years, I have to say thank you on behalf of millions of Somalis under vicious occupation by Tigre militia in the Ogaden region, and I encouraged them to do more research and fact finding, for sure they will encounter tremendous despair and stories of torture, rape and mass killings from the Somali people in the Ogaden region.
Caasha If you have time please read 2008 human rights watch report on Ethiopia called collective punishment in Ogaden, you will not ask for anymore evidence after you read that, see what they do to innocent Somali women who did nothing to anyone, living where she was born but is being punish because of who she is. In other words guilty by birth.
The peace loving people of Somali land who went through similar hardships in the eighties whom are our brothers and sisters, whom we share family relationships, long history, commercial ties, cultural ties and unmanned long border ought to help their brothers and sisters in a time of need through spirit of brotherhood because no matter how long it takes Meles Zinawi and his thugs will be defeated as dictators from other parts of the world start to fall.
The Somali people in the Ogaden region led by their heroes ONLF fighters will rise up and freedom will ring in that region, they will choose their destiny in a democratic way, no doubt they will reciprocate the good deeds they received from their Somali brothers and sisters and other nations in the world in a big way. NO dictator remains forever Somaliland people will testify to this, the owners of the land last anyone who came from somewhere else as the history teaches us, and NO ONE CAN STOP THE ASPIRATIONS OF THE SOMALI PEOPLE IN OGADEN, just like we saw in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen and now Libya. Ogadenia will be free, viva ONLF and the resilient people of Ogaden.
Ogaden, this is a tribal propaganda. The region is inhabited by all Somali tribes, therefore, calling it Ogaden is both offensive and condescending to all Somalis, who live in the region. I was born in that Somali region and I am not Ogaden and do not have a drop of Ogaden blood in my genes.
bro just shut up ur somali thats it forget being ogaden ur somali nuff said
It is our duty to tell our brothers that they are wrong, when they are doing sinful things. Here they are complaining of Ethiopian injustice, but they are not being fair to their fellow Somalis. The current administration ignores the Isaaq, Issa and Gedabuursi tribes who are the inhabitants of more than half of that territory and even worst the ONLF calls the region Ogadenia. In my opinion both the ONLF and the current administration are racists to the best and racism has no place in Islam.
Let's all be honest bros/sis. We Somali people whether you are from S/Land or others parts of Somalia have cousins and relatives from different clans. There has been a long tradition of Isaaq clans inter-marrying fellow neighbouring Darood/Ogaden clan and the recent news report surfacing from Somali-Galbeed could possibly be true as family relatives informed me of the incident.
And what is further tragic is that as one part of my family recently celebrated in May, whilst the other part of my family were morning…..this is the state in which our people has become.
Do some of you forget the ethnic cleansing and those Ogaden who took over our main towns and call us Qudhmis? The tribe has a blood in its hands and they should apologize to the Somaliland people. The fifth region of Ethiopia is not for Ogaden alone, but there are other tribes who reside there. The name of that regions must be changed to something else that the people of the region share.
Ogaden tribe and people of Somaliland have had an old relations historically, but they destroyed that relationship when Mr. Siyaad Barre came to power and they did what they did.
For the first mr. Boqoljireh this is not time to talk about the somali civil war in which all clans commited crimes aganist each other no clan is inocent, this is time to unity as somalis aganist the Etiophian colonists who are killing somali women and children. Your are talking like every Ogaden was taking part in genocide, the government troops who destroyed Somaliland do not represent the Ogaden tribe. But I agree with you the name " Ogaden" must be changed to " Western Somalia" or somali galbeed that will create somali unity.
Boqoljireh
The Hawiyie clan commited genocide aganist the Darood clan in Mogadishu in 1991, but when Etiophia invaded Mogadishu and attackted the Hawiyie clan in 2006, many thosands of Darood men took a gun and defended Mogadishu aganist the etiophians. My Point is that regardless of what somalis did to each other in the past we should unity aganist foreign enemies in the end we somalis only have each other…..
As a somalilander it makes me feel sick to my stomach to see my brothers and sisters brutally being killed and raped by kufars in Ethiopia or anywhere in the world. Most of the people in somaliland are really hoping and making du'a for Allah to give peace to the south and safety for the Ogadens. But it is upsetting when other somalis make the people of Somaliland look like they don't like somalinimo when all Somaliland ask for is to be an independent sovereign due to terribly failed union. And we can't help other somalis in ogaden or south when Somaliland is suffering lack of recognition when Somalia refuses to let somaliland go and they see Somaliland to be their biggest enemy. I believe Somaliland and Somalia can can be two big nations and together we can free Ogadenia or western somalis. If the recognition of Somaliland is the biggest failure for somali people then the kufars would have recognised Somaliland long time ago. In reality the recognition of Somaliland is not a failure for the somali people but they can be two and strong stable countries each with their own resources. All Somalia is doing is pushing Somaliland further and further away with their fake government set by the UN. UN wants Somalia destroyed indirectly
Amal thanks sister for your excellent view point. True we make dua for the south and we don't accept the atrocities committed against our ogaden brothers and sisters indeed, absolutely we are against it. That said, Somaliland recognition is in jeopardy, not because Somaliland didn't deserve it, but it is not secret, the day Somaliland recognized is the day southern Somalia begins to regain its stability, and those who have vested interest to see a failed state of Somalia don't want this to happen, that is why southern Somalia is in limbo ever since. Let us keep doing the right thing for Somaliland and wait the day Allah(swt) help us sort out the mess from an angle we don't see it today and as long as we do the right thing that help is imminent. Peace for Ogaden and all Muslims…
@Hargaysa Boy
May I ask you when did the Isaaq clan commit crimes against other the Somalis? As far as history goes, the Isaaq people ever only supported Somali unity and freedom, be it in the South, NFD, or in the Ogaden, that is until we lost our own freedom.
Nevertheless, Somaliland should now in its very limited capacity ( as it is currently occupied with mitigating the harassment from Pirateland and the TFG- Totally Failed Government) make it clear to Ethiopia that we abhor their treatment of the Ogaden people and work with Ethiopian government, the local people, and the international community towards finding a lasting solution to the problems in this region.
Amal thanks sister for your excellent view point. True we make dua for the south and we don't accept the atrocities committed against our ogaden brothers and sisters indeed, absolutely we are against it. That said, Somaliland recognition is in jeopardy, not because Somaliland didn't deserve it, but it is not secret, the day Somaliland recognized is the day southern Somalia begins to regain its stability, and those who have vested interest to see a failed state of Somalia don't want this to happen, that is why southern Somalia is in limbo ever since, and Somaliland not recognized. In this way neither one will see the light as they conspired. Foolish isn’t it.
Let us keep doing the right thing for Somaliland, and keep making dua for the rest and wait the day Allah(swt) help us sort out the mess from an angle we don't see it today and as long as we do the right thing that help is imminent. Peace for Ogaden and all Muslims…
Borame-Boy; Amal & Weerar Don't tell me that Ogaden was not part of what Afweyne regime did to us. I am sorry to heard a Somaliland who says this kind of thing unless he is………
We will not support Ogaden to create problem with our neighbour. What OLF is doing now is too bad for both Somaliland & Ethiopia. They burn everyday our vehicles that travel Reserve Area and claim they are Somalis. No they should stay with Ethiopian and share the good with other ethnics and build their province.
Boqoljirreh, brother are gonna say forever, Ogaden do this, Ogaden do that, plz let us forgive that, it is been 20 years now. Yes Ogaden made a mistake, but who is perfect, nobody is perfect, we too made our silly mistakes by being too naive to transfer our independence to the south that cost us 30 years of backwardness and misery. for me i won't forget but i forgive all those disheartening by May 18 2011. Boqoljirreh, brother plz join us and start to open a new page. Thanks for your concern, don't think we downplaying those issues but we forgive and not forget.
The region is called Somali State and there is nothing called Ogaden, the claims are as fake as that name.
I'm from there and I'm Somali and ONLF kills those who dont support their terrorism war and cry crocodile tears.
The truth is the person that calls himself Hargeysa Boy also uses "Etiophia" and Tigray Boy, I have been observing and noticed he spells Ethiopia the same way "Etiophia". He is just another fageesh changing shirts. Cover exposed.
@ Jay
Good observation. Looks like there are a lot of people changing shirts in this website
Let's all work for peace in SomaliGalbeed and take a practical approach in solving the problem by peaceful and economic means.
If Saaid Barre did not approved the disastrous military war against Ethiopia and Co (USSR, South Yemen, Cuba, Libya etc ) than I truly believe that Somalia would not be in this shameful and decades long period of Somali humiliation.
Well done SomalilandPress for the publication of this article, as somalis solidarity and brotherhood should fill our hearts..Thousands of people have died for this region as it is, and thousands more will die for it, and I refuse to entertain the thought of changing the name of the region to satisfy a few individuals who did nothing to contribute to the safety of the people, and the liberation of the country. Those of you who have a problem with the name of the region should find a way to get over it. It is called Ogadenia, and it will continue to be called Ogadenia UNLESS those who fought for the region's liberation choose otherwise.
i’m asking my fellow brothers and sister why do u like to blamed the innocent people of Ogaden and not for kufar who are killing ,raping our sisters and brothers ?
Somalis should unite and overcome tribal jingoism,realise their enemy and identify their friends,the fact is No somali owned land is free.