Ethiopia-Based Ogaden Rebel Group Denies Fighters Surrounded in Somalia
The Ogaden National Liberation Front, an ethnic-Somali rebel group that seeks self- determination in part of eastern Ethiopia, denied its fighters were surrounded by Somali provincial forces while heading toward Ethiopian territory.
Reports that the Ethiopia-based ONLF “redeployed troops” by sailing their fighters from Eritrea to the self-declared independent Somali province of Somaliland have “no element of truth and were unsubstantiated,” the group said today in an e- mailed statement. The rebels said they already had sufficient forces in the region and had “escalated” combat, killing 150 Ethiopian soldiers on Sept. 13 and 14 at Arabi and Shebelle.
The ONLF was responding to Sept. 14 reports from the Walta Information Center, an Ethiopian website that is favorable to the country’s government and is based in the capital, Addis Ababa. Walta said a group of 250 to 300 Ogaden rebels who trained in Eritrea were surrounded by troops from Somaliland.
The ONLF says it has been fighting for self-determination for the people of the Ogaden region for 16 years. The region is an arid zone that covers much of Ethiopia’s Somali Regional State and borders Somalia. Ethiopia considers the group a terrorist organization backed by neighboring Eritrea.
The ONLF fighters were trapped in the Maar-Maar Mountains in the Abdal region of Somaliland as they tried to enter Ethiopia at Abdoulqadir, the website cited Somaliland officials as saying.
Ethiopian officials at the Somali Regional State’s offices and the Communications Ministry didn’t respond to telephone and text messages requesting comment on today’s ONLF statement.
To contact the reporter on this story: William Davison in Addis Ababa via Johannesburg at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.
Rate this Page