Ethiopia’s Liyu Police -The New Crisis of The Horn of Africa

Ethiopian paramilitary Force or Liyu Police militia better known as”Ethiopia’s Janjaweed” is killing, raping, torturing, and arresting unarmed civilians in Ethiopian-Occupied Ogaden Region.

The Militia’s human rights violations is well-documented by the Rights Groups-such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Genocide Watch.The Guardian reported that this criminal institution to receive £19 million from UK’s department for International Development or (DFID), a report denied by the DFID.

Twenty-three year-old, Nafis, who only gave her first name for fear of reprisal told me how she escaped from her town Hamaro, in the Fiq province, on phone. “A large number of paramilitary soldiers stormed our houses while I was in the vicinity of the town, killing any-one in sight and taking few people with them including my 2-year-old baby, Neima Mohammed, she said.

Two hours later, she was confirmed that her baby, Neima, was taken and detained in “Ogaden Jail” for political background. The baby’s father, Mohammed, is one of the ONLF-sympathizers and that is the reason behind the baby’s detention. But Nafis was shocked and was more gut-wrenching for the news of her baby. Now a refugee in Yemen, Nafis’s message to International community is simple: “I want my little baby back”.

The aforementioned reveals down-to-earth reality in Ogaden: the local people face a stark choice indeed, namely either to remain at home in Ogaden, and be exposed to various deprivations, extreme suffering, routine army brutality, long imprisonment, and brutal scorch earth tactics or flee and manage to get to some refugee camps in the neighboring countries whereby safety is not an issue anymore, but the conditions of life are truly miserable and the humanitarian assistance is very limited.

Nafis is one of more than 3,000 Ogadeni refugees currently living in Yemen’s Capital, Sana’a under UNHCR’s mandate.

Liyu Police-controlled notorious prison locally known as “Jail Ogaden” in the regional capital of Jigjiga, is one of brutal prisons on earth that is held many inmates without charge. About 5,000 inmates are in Ogaden jail among them are women, children and babies including men. This prison is known for “dishing out not just physical torture to its inmates but mental as well.” I will write in details for my upcoming articles.

According to human rights groups, Ethiopian forces and its ally, Special police, carry out unlawful detention and extra-judicial killing of civilians sought to be sympathizers of the ONLF. Ethiopian forces are also accused of forcefully recruiting civilians among them children to do its war against Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) but Liyu Police members are defecting one-by-one and Ethiopian forces may not rely on it any longer, as a former Liyu defector, Capt. Hassan Aafo, told me.

This academy for qualified murderers enjoy international community’s silence when it comes to human rights abuses being committed against the unarmed Somali civilians in Ethiopian-occupied Ogaden region by the Liyu Police militia and Ethiopian Army.Many people were forced out Ogaden region and died in the seas, therefore, Liyu Police militia is not only a new regional crisis but international one.

According to Swedish Paper, Aftonbadet, Swedish War Crimes Commission has launched a preliminary investigation against Ogaden Regional President, Abdi Mohamoud Omar and his vice president Abdullahi Yusuf Werar. The Report came right after different Swedish TV channels including Swedish Television SVT, showed a movie smuggled out from Ogaden by an Ogadeni Refugee, Abdullahi Hussein, who had been a government official in the region. The 100 hours long movie is said to have many evidences of genocide committed by the Ethiopian government in the region.

According to a report by the Ogadentoday Press three civilians were executed in Godey, quoting an NGO-worker in the area, who declined to be named, said, that the men who were demised were accused of being sympathizers of Ogaden National Liberation Front(ONLF).

The Oil-rich Ogaden Region borders Djibouti, Kenya and Somalia and many of its residents are ethnic Somalis. The region was Italian and British-colony, but in 1954, British handed over the region secretly to Ethiopia a decision rejected by the Ogaden Somali population and fight for full Independence ever since.

Liyu Police in Ogaden: Will Ethiopia’s Donors Hold Them Accountable For The Crimes They Perpetrate?

The deterioration of the conditions of human life in Occupied Ogaden has a lot to do with the multifaceted activities of oppression that are regularly perpetrated by the Liyu policemen and officers. In an earlier publication, we gave a diagram of their structure and operations; in the present article, we will focus on some of their customary practices.

Rape viewed as the Right Method of War

To describe the normal, defensive attitude and stance of a woman under assault, the Liyu Police senior commanders introduced a new term, e.g. a shameful expression which reveals their beastly nature and the inhuman education they received in the said institution. The term coined in this regard is “anti-peace elements”. In other words, to carry out their premeditated rapes against targeted Ogadeni women, the Liyu Police officers offer themselves a mythical justification of their intentional crimes.

The concept that every woman, who rejects being raped by the Liyu torture specialists, is an ‘anti-peace element’ reflects the Ethiopian state’s terrorist policy and the absence of human dignity in the African country with the darkest record of Human Rights violations. Contrarily to all declarations of Human Rights and to every notion of International Law, in Ethiopia, imprisoned women are deliberately raped in front of their fellow prisoners, men or women.

In April 2012, in the Liyu police station located at Labiga, a village in Occupied Ogaden, a malicious person named Farxiye, a Liyu police major, in time of duty, forced with the threat of guns, a group of women and girls to remove their clothes and stand naked in front of other Liyu policemen; in such condition, they kept them for long, asking them whether they were wives of ONLF fighters. To further dishonor and humiliate the naked Ogadeni women, the major ordered several policemen to penetrate the women’s vagina with their fingers as if in a medical examination and with the hypothetical purpose to examine whether they had had sexual intercourse with their husbands – the supposed fighters of the ONLF over the few hours preceding their arrest.

Following the vicious and shameful, medical parody, the Liyu policemen raped most of the arrested women and girls, sparing only a few. Among the raped women in Bu’lale are Sahra Hassan Bashir, Fadumo Awliyo, and Ina-Dhoolo Biid. When Sahra Hassan informed relatives and friends that she had been raped by the police, the news spread around and the angry police officers paid a visit to her house to threaten her with death, if she insisted to tell her story to the other villagers.

In Occupied Ogaden, rape has become a common, often repeated, crime that remains unpunished, as long as the international community tolerates the existence of the terrorist, colonial state of Ethiopia.

Mass Murder

According to several testimonies made by a number of former Liyu Police officers, who defected recently from their regiments, no less than 709 civilians were killed extrajudicially in front of eye-witnesses in the Ogadeni provinces of Degeh-bur, Nogob, and Jigjiga in the last few years.

Some of the most atrocious massacres were committed in Dusmo, Labiga, Gosolaley, Geri’go’an, Gunagado, Abshir, Bu’lale, Dabo-jiriso, Wado-Abared, Aware, Golool-goose, Malqaqa, Bula’dari, Galaalshe, Iskudhunley, and Dara-salam.

In February 2012, two prominent figures of the village Gunagado, Abdikader Foolow, and Moalin Khader were killed in the middle of the night by Liyu policemen; their killing had been ordered by Liyu major Bashir Af-dheere. The Liyu policemen even killed people who evidently saw the extrajudicial killings in order not to leave any testimony able to accurately and completely narrate the story. Among these witnesses who were killed, there were two women. One of them pleaded in vain to be spared for the fear of God, as she was eight (8) months pregnant. To this, the criminal Liyu police officer, Major Bashir Af-dheere answered shamelessly: “We have only one god, and this is (father) Abdi. May god be glorious”!

Extrajudicial arrests

The number of detained civilians has always been exorbitantly high. The notorious jail of Jigjiga, capital of Ogaden, is said to be packed with prisoners, and according to modest estimates, there are more than 5,000 prisoners, women, children and men, in the jail – all because they were suspected to be ONLF sympathizers.

In Ogaden, ordinary prisoners and prisoners of conscience alike spent many long years in detention, awaiting a trial that never came; thus they were exposed to very low conditions of hygiene and nutrition. Hundreds of detainees have died because of diarrhea and other contaminations. The cells are at times flooded with evacuation waters, and this often causes repeated cholera outbreaks that eliminate many prisoners. Nevertheless, the survivors still face an unusually brutal attitude from the guards and are constantly beaten and hit with various instruments with catastrophic results for their integrity and health.

For all cases of imprisonment, after their incarceration and for several weeks, prisoners are placed in the horrendous cells known as “neef diid”; these cells are airless and dark, and the prisoners are exposed to different types of torture in order to be forced to confess that they are ONLF members or sympathizers. Over the span of the last decades, many innocent civilians suffocated and died in those airless cells.

Property confiscation

When it comes to cattle-keeping in Ogaden, Liyu policemen are known for their inclination of officialized robbery. The following incident is an example.

Only in the period May – June 2012, more than 430 livestock were confiscated from villagers of Abshir and Dig by the 11th regiment of Liyu Police which is based in Dig. These animals were slaughtered for food by the Liyu Police.

Occupied Ogaden

The aforementioned reveals down-to-earth reality in Occupied Ogaden; the local people face a stark choice indeed, namely either to remain at home in Ogaden, and be exposed to various deprivations, extreme suffering, routine army brutality, long imprisonment, and brutal scorch earth tactics or to flee and manage to get to some refugee camps in the neighboring countries whereby safety is not an issue anymore, but the conditions of life are truly miserable and the humanitarian assistance very limited.

It is very difficult to know with accuracy how many civilians were massacred since the Ethiopian military crackdown in 2007; however, Human Rights activists and experts are convinced that several hundreds of thousands of people were mercilessly exterminated in Ogaden.

Ogaden was formerly an Italian and British colony; the local colonial authority was secretly transferred to Ethiopia following an agreement with the British in 1945, and the land was annexed in the early 50s. Ogaden remained under Ethiopian occupation ever since.

Ethiopian Scorched-Earth Policy in Occupied Ogaden and the Liyu Police Militia

Conceived and materialized exclusively for the prolongation of the Ethiopian Occupation of Ogaden, Liyu Police has recently played an active role in the implementation of the Ethiopian scorched-earth policy across the vast, Somali-speaking, Ogaden region; the regional administration of Ogaden was arbitrarily transferred from the British colonials to the Ethiopian kingdom in 1954.

The role played by Liyu Police in the destruction of Ogaden and the Ogadeni society is revealed by a testimony paper composed by a number of recently defected former Liyu Police officers whereby are given details about atrocious incidents, dates and criminal perpetrators. Such is the extent of the horror and the evildoings that the perpetrators have to be persecuted.

Liyu Police Militia   

 The notorious Liyu Police, a paramilitary combat force, was founded on 5 May 2005 to recruit among Somalis of the Ogaden region; the force has been systematically trained, tidily commanded, and scrupulously supervised by the Ogadeni renegade Abdi Mohamoud Omar (Abdi Ilay) and the associated Ethiopian Army generals stationing in the provinces of Harar and Qorahay of the Occupied Ogaden region.

The oppressive institution has a double goal, namely to prepare an extra force to combat the national liberation struggle of the Ogadenis and to pull as many local Somali youth as possible away from their oppressed community and, through the ‘reward’ of a high monthly income, to detach them from their patriotic engagement.

The special paramilitary forces of Liyu Police are trained in Garab’ase military barracks of Jigjiga, Capital of Ogaden.After the completion of a 6-month of basic military and guerrilla tactics training, the participants are graduated during a shameful ceremony organized by the loathed traitor Abdi Mohamoud Omar (Abdi Ilay), the associated Ethiopian Army generals, and other officers of the occupying forces.

Abdi Mohamoud Omar (Abdi Ilay) holds a meeting with every fresh graduate; in the brief discussion, he offers his dark advice to the graduates, asking the well-trained forces to “indoctrinate the women with the male phallus and the men with guns”.

Liyu Police militias are dressed in a gray, brown and light black uniform, and are equipped with AK-47, PKM, RPG, and other military grade weapons, which are all supplied by the Ethiopian Ministry of Defense – another sheer indication that Ogaden is not part of Ethiopia, but an occupied territory pretty much like Palestine, Kashmir and Western Sahara.

Liyu police officers strive to achieve the rank of “Shaleqa“, i.e. major; this rank is acquired only after the proven performance of many killings.

However murderous a Liyu police officer may happen to be, promotion to the rank of Shaleqa involves also evident disrespect of the religious and traditional tenets of the officer’s family and society. Beyond the numerous killings of their fellow Ogadeni countrymen that the Liyu police officers have to perpetrate, they are also forced to disparage Islam, their own religion, and their national Somali identity and traditions, in order to be fully appreciated and thus promoted by the Ogadeni turncoat Abdi Mohamoud Omar (Abdi Ilay).

Useless to add, Liyu Police officers’ salaries are exorbitantly high for what a monthly income can be in impoverished Ethiopia – and even more so for the inhabitants of the destitute Ogaden region, which remains deprived of all basics of life that are however made available in the country’s partially promoted provinces Tigray and Amhara.

The basic monthly salary of a Shaleqa (major) starts at 5,000 ETB (US$ 265), which is a considerably high income, taken into consideration that in impoverished Ethiopia, high school teachers get monthly no more than ETB 3000 (US$ 150), and an employee in a social instance has a salary of around ETB 4000 (US$ 200), although both categories require university studies and graduation. Quite contrarily, in the notorious Liyu police are accepted people who completed only their Primary Education, and at times, totally uneducated persons are allowed to enroll.

At this point, it is necessary to specify that Abdi Mohamoud Omar (Abdi Ilay) is the Ethiopia-appointed Regional President of Ogaden, which is officially named ‘Kilil 5′, i.e. Province 5, a term that reveals the ethnic-cleansing policy mercilessly pursued by the terrorist government of Ethiopia.

Abdi Mohamoud Omar holds also the post of the Chief Commander of Liyu Police, which clearly shows the importance attributed to this shameful, repressive institution and to the destructive role it plays within Occupied Ogaden.

Among Liyu Police trainees, the renegade Abdi Mohamoud Omar is imperatively called Aabo Abdi, lit. ‘Father Abdi’. This euphemism suits well a shameful renegade, who was divorced by his first wife, a brave lady who repeatedly commented negatively about the “Liyu Police smelly socks”.

The scorched-earth campaign that has been taking place across Ogaden over the past years led to the destruction of many towns and hundreds of villages that were razed to the ground in all nine (9) provinces of Ogaden. The details of the events were extensively reported, published, documented and denounced by leading humanitarian NGOs, the likes of Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International.

The atrocities represent a deliberate ethnic-cleaning campaign and the first, fully-proven genocide of the 21st century; amongst others, the following acts have been perpetrated in Occupied Ogaden during the past decade: sexual assault, rape, torture, extort, beating, robbery and inhumane treatment of civilians, unlawful confinement, murder; unlawful deportation and transfer of civilians; targeting of political leaders, intellectuals and professionals; unlawful appropriation and plunder of real and personal property; the destruction of places of water supplies including local wells; extra-judicial killings of civilians; destruction of villages and crops.

"Helping Your People In Need Project " Ogaden Refugee at Kharaz

 Dearest me,

Thank you for your interest and care for Somali Ogaden refugees. You are one among a growing "Help your people project "  people across the World devoting time and treasure to become part of the solution for  the Somali Ogaden refugee concerns around the world. I am part of that "Help your People Project", too. Please allow me to introduce myself.  My name is Ahmed Abdi,And I've been privileged to serve as a Spokesperson for the Somali Ogadeni refugees since last November, Upon my  arrival ,I saw women and children  from Ogaden Region that needed my assistance. 

The Family of Ali Siad that lives in Kharaz Camp,Yemen

Last February,  I talked with  Swedish Journalists  Jacob Zockerman and Sara Assarsson  for the possibility to visit to us.Thanks of Allah, they managed to met  and do  a story  about the  situation  for Women and Children in Kharaz Camp Refugee of Yemen to highlight their cause as Refugees.And We'll continue to talk to the media till their word is listened by the International Community.Many single-parents -that lost their spouses in the hands of Ethiopian Army and Liyu police militias-worry for their children's future. 

Sahra and her children lives in Kharaz Camp Refugee,Yemen 

I saw these women and children from Ogaden Region struggle  to find food,clean water, clothing,schooling,comfort houses  and proper medical treatment. They send their kids to Aden and San'a to work as maids,baby-sitters and car-washers for a little income to cope with the dire circumstance they experience day-to-day in the Camp because The little WFP giveaway ration is not enough.

The Family of Hassan Ganey that lives in Kharaz Camp Refugee

These single-parents or widowed suffer baby-log because they could not find a bottle of milk for their new-born babies.These Children are the future of our homeland,Ogadenia, to make more secure future we have to feed the future. Allah may lead you people(Refugees) that are in dire straits and need your assistance.
They are hoping that people such as you will care enough to make a difference in their lives.
Whether you are in Asia. Europe,Canada, Australia, Arabian Peninsula, or Africa your people need your assistance. Act Now and donate .Your contributions provide funds for special food for a malnourished infant, orphaned because of the the brutal  Ethiopian Army and/or  the notorious Liyu Police militia have killed their parents.Teach how to read, as it is a fundamental  and help to have a good clothing.

I am looking forward to see your generosity,as our prophet Mohammed (pbuh) said,"Allah is only merciful with those who show mercy to others." [Al-Bukhari] 




Thank you for your partnership in this noble "Help Your people Project" .
Ahmed Abdi
ORC,Spokesperson
Ogaden Refugee Council
halgan85@yahoo.com
http://halwanaag.blogspot.com

Ethiopian Army wages a secret and brutal war on civilians in Ogaden

 Fleeing Ogaden refugees recount tales of terror

Remote villagers were living in a happy life, performing traditional dances locally known as Daanto; children played hide-and seek; wives were making cheese and sewing clothes; men were playing chess (shax) and contesting the poems to pass time when they were not herding camels; young adults were rehearsing their newly-composed verses to attract singles; birds were singing their melodious songs. The rainy Gu' season was approaching, the sky was dark-blue and the weather oozed out a breathtaking Saxansaxo fragrance. This was Ogaden, a paradise on earth for its inhabitants.

But unfortunately their paradise turned into hell when Ethiopian soldiers equipped with latest weapons of mass murder descended on their locality and unleashed a merciless campaign of death and destruction, torturing, killing, raping and desecrating this once pristine land and its people.

The small hamlet of Guus-awl, which is located in Fiiq region, is one of the places that experienced Ethiopian barbarity.The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), a rebel front fighting for the self-determination of Ogaden which is active in the region, attacked Ethiopian army camp near Guus-awl after villagers complained to the ONLF about frequent mistreatment they suffered at hands of Ethiopian troops stationed there.

The rebels routed the Ethiopian army units near Guus-awl and melted into dense forests of the countryside. However, Ethiopian army reinforcements arrived a little latter.

Knowing that Ethiopian troops will unleash their furry on them, some of the residents of Guus-awl escaped to the nearby caves when they heard news that the Ethiopian army was fast approaching their village.

"We knew that the army will massacre us in a revenge, so we had no choice but to run to the nearby caves and hide ourselves there," said Roda Mohamoud Abdi, a 22 years old former Guus-awl resident who is now a refugee in a neighboring country.

After hiding in the caves for a while, Roda and 6 of her company felt hungry and went back back to the village, mistakenly assuming that the Ethiopian Army passed through the village. But Ethiopian soldiers stayed there all day long, terrorizing villagers and killing as many as 17 people. As they entered the outskirts of the village, army guards saw them, waved to them and apprehended them.

Roda and the others were then marched, on foot, all the way to Degehbur town after being beaten viciously. "We had been walking with the Army for eight days without eating or drinking with our hands tied behind our backs and our eyes closed," said Roda.

After spending few days in Dhegehbur, Roda was transferred to the infamous ‘Jail Ogaden’ which is located in the regional capital Jigjiga where she was detained, severely tortured and held incommunicado for 3 years.

"They put me in a cell, twisted my shoulders with pliers, pressed a burning stick on my back and made me walk on broken glasses on my knees," Roda recounted, displaying the scars on her back, her shoulders, and her knees.

Roda broke down and cried when she recalled one of her companion in the prison who was beaten up and kicked until her womb came out from her rear.

Roda is one example of many.

Despite the mountain of evidences the Ethiopian regime routinely denies the allegations of abuses and torture which its army is carrying out – with impunity – in Ogaden. Up to now there has never been a single Ethiopian soldier persecuted for these abuses. In fact it is the opposite: the merciless soldiers who terrorize civilians are often promoted.

The Swedish Television recently aired videotaped evidence of Ethiopian troops standing on the corpses of murdered civilians in a place called Malqaqa. The material, which was smuggled out of Ethiopia by a defected civil servant, Abdullahi Hussein, shows footage of entire villages in the Ogaden that have been emptied of people through executions and flight from terror.

In November 2007 John Holmes, the U.N.'s humanitarian chief at the time, visited Ogaden region and called for an independent investigation to be conducted after he was alarmed at the scale of the atrocities. But his recommendation was not carried out and the situation has become worse.
Western states, mainly Great Britain and United States, have many interests in Ethiopia and are unlikely to put pressure on the Ethiopian regime. Ethiopia is one of the most aid-dependent countries in the world, receiving well over $2 billion in foreign assistance every year, of which the U.S. government has been providing roughly one fourth. In January 2009, the European Commission announced plans to give Ethiopia €250 million (approximately $330 million) in new assistance.

That money is used by the Ethiopian government to suppress its people, and in particular, to carry-out the widespread human violations in Ogaden.
The survivors of these atrocities who’re scattered throughout the world strongly urge the International Community to investigate the wide-spread war crimes and crimes against humanity which are still being committed in Ogaden Region, and the perpetrators to be held accountable. The people of Ogaden deserve justice and their voice should be heard.

The Ethiopian Regime Carries on Campaign To Starve Ogadeni Villagers To Submission

Thousands of people have fled from Ogaden Region after the Ethiopian regime unleashed a crackdown and collective punishment campaign against the civilian population in its battle with independence-seeking movement, the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) — especially after the ONLF asked for a referendum according to the Transitional Charter of 1991.
As a result, majority of the rural population have become Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) inside Ogaden, while many of them fled to neighboring countries. Those who remained in Ogaden live in desperate conditions– without any access to basic services or peace for themselves and their animals. Their misery is further compounded by the constant violations they encounter from the Ethiopian government army and allied Liyu Police militias. They frequently get detained, tortured and their few remaining livestock is constantly confiscated.

I have managed to interview several people whose livestock was confiscated. One of them is a 56-year old woman from Fiiq area named Fatima Ahmed who fled Ogaden and currently lives in a neighboring country refugee camp.

“There was a severe food shortage in Fiiq,” said Fatima Ahmed, the 56-year-old mother whose family livestock had been confiscated. “Ethiopian troops came, took away my livestock and slaughtered them for food.” “That Regime made our lives horrible,” she added.

Since 2007 the Ethiopian government has imposed an embargo on Ogaden and stopped all commercial trucks entering gaden from region’s long porous border with Somalia, causing a dire humanitarian crisis and exacerbating the already fragile situation in the region. Cut from its economic lifeline and trading route to Somalia and humanitarian agencies expelled from the region, the inhabitants of Ogaden live on the edge and are constantly facing starvation.

The Ogaden region has been economically connected to the nearby regions of Somalia, mainly Somaliland and Puntland, and has no any trade or cultural connection to the Ethiopia highlands. The Region exports livestock to the Arabian Peninsula through the Port of Berbera and Bosaso, and Djibouti.

Halima Qaw-dan, a 35-year old widow who fled the Ogaden recently told me that they survived by eating leaves while fleeing the Ogaden region. “We ate leaves from the trees to reduce hunger,” she said.

The mainly nomadic pastoralist people of Ogaden depend on rainfall to sustain them, and famine is only a failed rainy season away. The little food that comes from The World Food Programme (WFP) does not reach the vulnerable people; it ends up in the hands of Ethiopian government troops and allied militias.

“Army Commanders, Liyu Police Officers, and district governors share the food and sell it in the market places”, said Faysal Mohamoud Abdi-wali, a 40-year old, former top Liyu Police Officer that recently defected from Ogaden and lives in neighboring country.

Not all Ogadenis are made to suffer hunger though. “If you cooperate with the regime and spy for them by accusing people of being ONLF sympathizers, you get opportunity to receive UN food giveaways. Fingers were pointed to innocent civilians and accused of being ONLF sympathizers in order to get food,” said Mr. Faysal Abdiwali.

Hospitals, clinics, and drug stores were totally empty, many people have died because of curable diseases. The nearest place to get proper medical treatment is the main cities such as Jig-jiga or Dirdawa and the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) was denied access to do its humanitarian work in the region by Addis Ababa, a decision “deplored” by the MSF. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was expelled from the region in 2007 for allegedly “aiding members of the separatist Group,” a charge they strongly deny.

“We could get a good medicine when MSF was operating in the area”, said Abdulkader Yusuf Mohamoud, 28, a former Degeh-bur resident who is suffering from 3-year-old TB infection.
Jakob Kellenberger, President of ICRC demanded a permission to resume ICRC to the region in 2011 in order to carry on its humanitarian work but Addis Ababa rejected the request.

Despite under-development, the state-owned television station – Ethiopian Somali TV (ESTV) – constantly airs signs of paved streets and the construction of new buildings that are limited to the Regional capital Jig-jiga. Many Ogadenis believe that it is a cheap propaganda show aimed to attract the Diaspora community which has suffered for a long time in exile and are feeling homesick.

For the last 6 years, many Ogadenis crossed into the borders of Kenya, Somalia and Djibouti, escaping the harsh life back home in search of safety and a better life. Many of them feel better and safer now in their new host countries than they were in Ogaden .

The Ogaden region is believed to contain huge gas reserves and oil deposits, but many attempts to exploit the regions oil resources have failed due to the on-going armed liberation struggle in the region.

Ogaden National Liberation Front released a fresh warning against African Oil Corporation (AOC). “ONLF calls upon African Oil to desist from paying blood money to Ethiopia until a just settlement of the conflict is achieved and the people of the Ogaden are in a position to be masters of their wealth and interest,” the statement said.
The Rebel further said in a statement that the company is “conspiring with the government to exploit the region’s oil.”

The Ogaden region lies between Oromia to the west, the Republic of Djibouti to the north, Kenya to the south and the Somali Republic to the east.


Ogaden was ceded secretly to Ethiopia by Great Britain in 1954 and that decision was rejected by the Ogaden Somalis. The ONLF is a local, grassroots based movement which has been fighting for the region’s independence since 1984.

Gabadhii aan Jeclaaday

Gabadhii aan jeclaaday baan gacalooyin tilmaami          
gabayna waan ku taswiiriye
bal  geeraarkaan tirindoono
        go'aankiisa dhagaysta.

DHEERARKEEDA

Geritaagan sidiisa ma galuubani dheera,
mana sii gaba-laaxdo,
sarajooga ma gaabna,
ganbadhkii dheriyeed iyo galxano mayna ku oolin.

ITAALKEEDA

Golos weeye itaalka
,garba wayd aan macayniyo,
gaajo hays ma ahayn,
mana sii gofanoobin oo
ganaceedu ma buurna
,sida geenyo  darmaanoo,
geenyo uugu nugaalsan
ama aan guradeeda la fuulin.

DHAXDEEDA

Ama aarkiyo goosha oo gooni meera ahaa,
ama gaaniga awrka oo gu'ga geela ku qooqay
oo gaana-dhiigta irmaaniyo
galoofteeda gudh-nayn  had ba gees u dhax-qaadi,
in uu guuxo ha joogee,
geed caleen leh da'yeynin,
yaad gabadha moodi go'geeda,
gabalo weeye dhaxdeedu.

TIMAHEEDA

Markay guudka fidhayso,
oy gaydhadii Alle siisay ku galaasho saliida,
WAR ma goray guuxa haldhaayoo,
giddigii xalaytoole,
gabal-roob ku da'aayoo,arroortii gil-gishaa,
ma geed-baar la-lulaa?!

NAASAHEEDA

Labadii gun-buxood ee kaga tiiley gar-daadka,
iyaga oo is ku gaw ah oo gafuur dayli-madow
yay marada soo gujiyeen,
guduudkooda kaleetana midhihii garaskoo
,gu'kaliisha bislaadiyo goon la diiray la moodo,
walina goor'ay dhacaaniyo ma ayna gaadhin gabow
; waa gadaal bax macaaniyo gacab buuxis wanaagsan.

Maxamed Daarin Hassan Saahid
(Naxariistii Janno Alle haka waraabiyo) Aamiin