Insurgency in Ogaden

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Insurgency in Ogaden
Ethiopian Somali region and main points of conflit
Date 1995[1] - present Location Ethiopian Somali region Status Conflict ongoing
Belligerents
Military of Ethiopia	Ogaden National Liberation Front
Commanders
Meles Zenawi	Unknown

Recent conflicts in the Horn of Africa Eritrean War of Independence – Eritrean Civil War – Ethiopian Civil War – Ogaden War – 1982 Border War - Somali Civil War – Djiboutian Civil War – Insurgency in Ogaden - Hanish islands crisis – Eritrean-Ethiopian War – OEF-Horn of Africa - Ethiopian war in Somalia

The Insurgency in Ogaden, waged by the separatist Ogaden National Liberation Front rebel group in Ethiopia's Somali region, began in 1995 and is ongoing. The group's aims have varied over time from increased autonomy in Ethiopia to outright independence to joining a "Greater Somalia". The long-running conflict has been largely invisible as Addis Ababa has restricted access to the region.^[2] The conflict intensified and gained more public exposure when Ethiopia launched a crackdown in 2007 in response to a previous rebel attack on a Chinese-run oil installation.

Contents 1 Background 2 The insurgency 3 References 4 See also

[edit] Background

The Ogaden, which is dominated by the Somali Ogaden subclan and came under Ethiopian rule only in the mid-19th century, has been the scene of a near-constant tension between Somalia and Ethiopia since Somalia became independent in 1960. The conflict emerged into open warfare in the late 1970s when then-President Siad Barre tried unsuccessfully to realise a "Greater Somalia" by unsuccesfully invading the region in the 1977-1978 Ogaden War.

ONLF was formed in 1984. ONLF systematically recruited Western Somali Liberation Front(WSLF) members and replaced WSLF in the Ogaden as the WSLF support from Somalia dwindled and finally dried up in the late eighties.^[3]

The ONLF was a participant in the Ethiopian Civil War, when it fought against the Derg, the military dictatorship of Mengistu Haile Mariam, but was not allied to the Tigrean People's Liberation Front (TPLF), the guerrilla movement led by Ethiopia's current prime minister, Meles Zenawi. After the Mengistu regime fell, in 1992, the ONLF won control of the government of Ethiopia's newly formed Somali region, becoming the only party not allied to the TPLF to score such a success. However, the ONLF's open advocacy of secession for Somali region and its frosty relations with the ruling party led to its ouster from government in 1994.^[4]

[edit] The insurgency

The ONLF reverted in 1995 to waging armed attacks against the TPLF-led Ethiopian government, which continued in the intervening years. For more than a decade, a heavy Ethiopian military presence in the region has been accompanied by widespread reports of human rights abuses committed by both sides. Those reports have generally been difficult to confirm because of the Ethiopian military's effective closure of the region to independent research and reporting.^[5]

The low-level guerrilla campaign was continuing, generally neglected by foreign media, until several high-profile ONLF attacks in the region in 2007, including the attack on the Chinese oil site at Abole and the attacks on Jigjiga and Dhagahbur. In response, Ethiopia launched a military crackdown in June 2007 in order to root out the rebels. The offensive was accompanied by high criticism and allegations of serious human rights abuses.^[6] The offensive was also allegedly linked to Ethiopia's involvement in Somalia. One motive for Ethiopia's ouster of the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) in December 2006 may have been to cut the links between the ONLF, the ruling Islamic Courts and Eritrea, including arms and logistical supply lines from Eritrea and Somalia to the ONLF in Ethiopia's eastern region. ^[7]

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Ethiopian Civil War
• Red Terror (Ethiopia)
• Ogaden War