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BACKGROUND
In fact the injustices and human rights abuses
inflicted upon the Ogadenis date back to the Ethiopian occupation
of the first part of the Ogaden a century ago.
In
1948, when the British government ceded illegally a great part
of the Ogaden to Ethiopia, the Ethiopian occupation forces killed
in a cold-blood massacre more than one hundred people, who were
protesting peacefully against the hand over of Jigjiga area
to Ethiopia.
In
1955, the British Authorities handed over the last part of the
Ogaden, which is Haud and Reserved Areas, to Ethiopia. At that
time peaceful demonstrations against the cession of the land
to the Ethiopians were brutally suppressed by Ethiopian occupation
forces.
In
1961, the Ethiopian imperial Army razed to the ground the towns
of Aisha’a Dhagahbour and Qalaafo, killing hundreds of defenceless
civilians.
In
1974, when the military junta overthrew Emperor Haile Selassie's
theocratic rule, the new communist military junta enforced more
oppressive policies in the Ogaden. Summary executions, arbitrary
detentions and dispossessing the people of their properties
were commonplace.
In
its Amharisation policy, the communist regime of Mengistu has
transferred thousands of Ethiopian settlers into the Ogaden
in an attempt to change the demographic nature of the region,
eliminate the Ogadeni national identity and to transform the
Ogaden into a region of Ethiopia, in which indigenous Ogadenis
will be an insignificant minority.
In
1991, when the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic
Front (EPRDF), which is dominated by the Tigray People's Liberation
Front (TPLF) carne to power, after the defeat of former government,
the EPRDF presented a new charter. According to the Transitional
Charter, which was adopted on 22 July 1991, among other things
all democratic principles, human rights and right to self-determination
of all nations in the empire-state of Ethiopia, should be recognized
and fully respected.
The
new Charter was welcomed by the Ogaden people, who suffered
from a century of repression and exploitation under the Imperial
and Military regimes, which ruled the empire-state of Ethiopia
respectively.
The
Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), which was the vanguard
of the Ogaden people's long national struggle against the Ethiopian
occupation, decided unequivocally to be part and parcel of the
new political process in Ethiopia by ratifying the newly drafted
Charter, in order to pursue the realization of the Ogaden people'
s rights and national aspirations by peaceful and democratic
means.
In
1992, the ONLF accused the EPRDF government of masterminding
the killing of several ONLF officials, including some members
belonging to the Front's Central Committee.
In
September 1992, the Ogaden people went to the polls to cast
their votes in a free and fair election, for the first time
in their long history to elect their district councils and representatives
for the regional parliament
In
a landslide victory, the ONLF won about 84% of the seats in
the newly elected regional parliament.
In
mid-1993, the regional government accused the central government
in Addis Ababa of flagrant interference in the day-to-day affairs
of the Ogaden region, an act that contradicts the commitment
to regional autonomy and devolution of power to the regions.
To
put more pressure on the regional government, the EPRDF central
government deprived the Ogaden region of its share of the central
budget and aid from international community to Ethiopia, as
well as obstructing all initiatives and projects deemed necessary
for the development of the region.
In 1993, the Ethiopian security forces arrested
the president, vice-president and secretary of the Regional
Assembly, who were transferred to prison in Addis Ababa. They
have been released after ten months without having been charged
or tried.
On 28 January 1994, at a press conference in
Addis Ababa, ONLF called for a referendum on self -determination
and independence for the Ogaden.
On 22 February 1994, a cold-blood massacre took
place in the town of Warder, where more than 81 unarmed civilians
were killed by TPLF militias, who tried to kill or capture alive
the chairman of the ONLF Mr. Abraham Abdullah Mohamed, who was
addressing at that time a peaceful rally in the centre of the
town.
On 17 April 1994, the EPRDF/TPLF government launched
a large-scale military offensive against ONLF positions and
detained many suspected supporters of ONLF.
On 28 Aprill994, at a press conference in Addis
Ababa, the then TPLF defence minister Siye Abraha claimed that
all resistance movements in the Ogaden had been destroyed and
stamped out.
In a petition addressed to the president of the
Transitional Government of Ethiopia (TGE), the elders of the
Ogaden asked the Ethiopian government to stop the military offensive
against the Ogaden people, and seek a peaceful dialogue to resolve
the conflict, instead of opting a military solution, which complicates
the situation.
In
May 1994, the Regional Assembly passed a unanimous resolution
in accordance with the Transitional Charter, demanding a referendum
on self-determination and independence for the Ogaden people,
under the auspices of international and regional bodies such
as United Nations, Organization of African Unity, European Union,
and other independent non-governmental organizations.
The
EPRDF government in Addis Ababa reacted swiftly and severely
by overthrowing and virtually disbanding all democratically
elected national institutions in the Ogaden, including the Regional
Parliament.
Like
their predecessors, the president of the Regional Parliament,
vice-president and several members of the parliament (MPs),
were arrested and transferred to prison in Addis Ababa. Mass
arrests and indiscriminate killings also took place.
In
1994, the EPRDF government sponsored a new satellite party called
Ethiopian Somali Democratic League (ESDL), which is a version
of People's Democratic Organizations (PDO), which exists throughout
Ethiopia within the EPRDF framework. The first congress of ESDL
was held in Hurso under the patronage of the then prime minister
of TGE Tamirat Layne, who appointed a member of the ruling EPRDF
coalition as a chairman of the new pro-government party.
On 25 January 1995, the EPRDF government hastily
arranged a meeting in the town of Qabridaharre to convince
to participate in the upcoming federal
and regional elections. The meeting, which was chaired by the
then president Meles Zemawi (the current prime minister), failed
when each side refused to compromise.
The ONLF, had broken off all contacts with the
EPRDF government, closed down its office in Addis Ababa and
boycotted elections from 1994 to 1995.
Since 20 Apri11994, bloody battles are being
fought between EPRDF forces and combatants of the ONLF on the
one hand, and EPRDF forces and combatants of Al-Itihad – there
is another group with the same name in the neighbouring Somalia,
but they are quite different - on the other hand.
Certainly, the ongoing struggle for self-determination
and independence in the Ogaden continues to cause more human
suffering and threatens peace and stability in the Horn of Africa.
Both the 1991 Charter and the new Constitution,
which was adopted and ratified by the Constituent Assembly on
8 December 1994, guarantee a right at secession of a people
if they are, "Convinced that their rights are denied,
abridged or abrogated," and this applies at the
Ogadeni case.
Article l of the International Covenant On Civil
and Political Rights (ICCPR) states that the right to self -determination
is universal and calls upon States to promote the realization
of that right and to respect it. The article provides that:
"
All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue
of that right they freely determine their political status and
freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.
All peoples may, for their own ends, freely dispose of their
natural wealth and resources without prejudice to any obligations
arising out of international economic cooperation, based upon
the principle of mutual benefit, and international law. In no
case may a people be deprived of its own means of subsistence.
The States parties to the present Covenant, including those
having responsibility for the administration of non-self- governing
and trust Territories, shall promote the realization of the
right of self-determination, and shall respect that right, in
conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United
Nations.
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