Comment on recent Reuters report: “Ethiopian rebels spread jitters in oil region”.

[Kamaavi]

On 13 of November 2009 the ONLF announced in a “military communiqué” sent to news agencies that its troops had “launched a broad multiple front military operation against military positions of the Ethiopian occupation army, liberating seven towns in O'gaden on Tuesday, 10 November, 2009”.

 

According to the ONLF the attack code-named “Eebo Cadow” took place in the following areas: “Obolka located near Harar, Hamaro located to the East of Fik, Higlaaley near Degah Bur, Yucub located 40km from Wardheer, Galadiid located 35km from Kabri Dahar, Boodhaano near the city of Godey, Gunagabo located near Degah Bur”.

 

The ONF claimed to have killed a total of “626 regime troops” and captured “significant amount of military hardware…including small arms, ammunition, and communications equipment” in a fellow- up statement related to one release 10 November, 2009. The statement added: “Military grade maps have also been captured. A total of 4 large military transport vehicles have been destroyed”.

 

The Ethiopian government on its behalf was quick to dismiss these claims –as they usually do through their misinformation ministry -calling them an ‘exaggeration’. "This group [ONLF] used to make exaggerated claims," said Shimelis Kemal, spokesman for the Ethiopian government, adding: "Since the Ebole incident, the ONLF bandit group is on the run". Shimelis went on to say: "Recently however, they have tried to raid some administrations in the localities, and that attempt had been effectively defeated by the local militia."

 

Shimel’s pronouncements are far from the truth. Locals on the ground, especially in the towns where the raids took place, had corroborated the ONLF’s account of the incident. Eyewitness accounts reported seeing dead Ethiopian troops lying scattered on the battle field days after the attack. As reported in local media, locals in the areas where the raids took place had requested from ONLF field commanders to remove these rotting corpses before they caused health hazard. However, as is the case always in O'gaden, there was no “independent” verification of these reports. This large territory, which is almost the size of Germany, is hermitically sealed by Ethiopian troops and is off limits to independent media, aid agencies, NGOs and foreign diplomats –especially since 2007. Obviously the Ethiopian government is trying to conceal from the world the genocide their troops are conducting in O'gaden and the losses their troops are incurring daily in confrontations with ONLF.

 

In light of the above ONLF claims and counterclaims of the Ethiopian regime -and given the inaccessibility of independent media in the region - it was interesting g to read a recent report from Jigjiga, O'gaden, by Barry Malone of Reuters News Agency titled “Ethiopian rebels spread jitters in oil region,” Friday, December 11, 2009.

 

However, regrettably, Malone’s piece literally toes the Ethiopian government line. And not only that, he seeks to augment his report by basing his finding on a single unidentified source that he tells us is an aid worker based in Jigjiga.

 

The report begins with the following sensational statement dismissing ONLF military claims as “almost certainly exaggerated”. “A rebel group's claims to have captured seven towns and killed 1,000 soldiers in fierce fighting in Ethiopia's oil-producing O'gaden region are almost certainly exaggerated, foreign aid workers in the region say,” writes Malone.

"They attacked more than twenty places," one aid worker, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters in Jijiga, the regional capital. "But they only managed to take one town, not seven," the report states.

 

According to Malone O'gaden is an “oil producing region”. Hurray to that!

To further solidify his argument that ONLF is incapable of conducting such large scale raids on Ethiopian troop positions, Malone cites a so-called Africa analyst who boldly claims that "In the Somali region they [ONLF] can carry out hit-and-run assaults on government sites as well as on outposts of foreign entities, like Chinese energy explorers," says Mark Schroeder, an Africa analyst with Stratfor, "But they cannot hold large stretches of territory."

 

As far as I am aware the ONLF did not claim to be holding these “liberated” areas permanently. That ONLF engages occasionally in battles with Ethiopian troops, sometimes winning and at times losing, is not BIG news that should perplex our minds. The front is quite capable of conducting large scale military raids and able to hold areas and towns it sees fit for strategic military purposes. This type of operations is called guerilla warfare and its modus operandi is to cause maximum damage to the enemy with minimum casualties. We surely do not need to learn its effectiveness from some phantom Africa analysts. The Somalis say, “You cannot hide the sun in the palms of your hands”. Our struggle has reached that stage, thanks to the perseverance and sacrifices of our people. And there is nothing Barry Malones and Mark Schroeders of this world can do about it however hard they try to underestimate our victories.

 

In his report Malone tells us that he went to the region with the U.S. ambassador to the U.N.'s food agencies, Ertharin Cousin, but does little to specify the purpose of her trip except to say that the “visit was carefully managed by the United Nations and the Ethiopian government”. We are therefore left with our own devices to guess what the trip was all about. And if the last paragraph of his article is indicative of anything (“Her convoy rarely left main roads, and she said [she] saw no evidence of the ONLF charges”) the Ambassador was in the region in order verify ONLF charges (claims?). This shows how far Malone is willing to go in order to refute the ONLF press release.

 

In conclusion, and to be fair to Malone, his report contains some rather accurate fragments like the part he says: “…Journalists are not allowed to travel in O'gaden without an escort and have been arrested and expelled from the country for doing so.” But he fails to question why journalists are restricted this way. I guess its so obvious “that 'it wouldn't do' to mention that particular fact” as George Orwell would have it said.

 

Nuradin Jilani

nuradinjilani@gmail.com.

[Cyber_Nomad]

there is no Oil in ******

 

its natural Gas