Lord Diplock people who advocate for diplomacy, negotiations or deals with the neo-nazi regime and believe the conflict will be solved through political are ignorant concerning reality in Ogaden and know nothing about the history of the current crisis and its root. ONLF did big mistake in the early 1990s the TPLF succeeded in fragmenting the ONLF by engaging its more moderate members in negotiations and into the region’s patronage and spoils system. They have done this in 1995 when the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) split into two over negotiations with the TPLF. The
“hawks” under the then ONLF leader Sheik Ibrahim Abdalla (AUN) continued armed struggle, while the
“doves” led by Bashir Abdi Hassan joined the EPRDF after merging with the Pro-TPLF Ethiopian Somali Democratic League (ESDL) of Abdulmejid Hussein.
Many don't know that after the fall of the Dergue (the Communist military junta that came to power in Ethiopia following the ousting of Haile Selassie) members of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) formerly clandestine and their supporters became public and the ONLF participated in the political process and won the election in 1995 more than 85% of the casted votes in the Somali region. At the end of the transitional period, the political organizations, the elected members of Parliament, the elders and the people started expressing their views about their future status. Their views and demands were not consistent with that held by the Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF) led regime of Addis Ababa.
So The Addis Ababa regime responded rapidly by overthrowing and almost terminating all democratically elected national institutions in the region, including the Regional Parliament. TPLF officers started killing, arresting, and intimidating unarmed and peaceful ONLF leaders and its members. They started to execute publically regional governors, mayors, and important figures in the community without due process. And tyranise the civilian population.
ONLFis prepared to defend its people, it choose the liberation struggle rather than accept their lot as second class citizens, a people who only exist as part of the empire.Never will we negotiate right for self determination and independence, history teaches us that freedom is only achieved with the gun not politically.TPLF cannot defeat ONLF in the battle field, they seem to have opted for other hypocritical ways to get rid of ONLF for good i.e deals and diplomacy.
We have learnt from our naive mistakes, the barrel of a gun is the only soultion, in the Ogaden conflict the sword is mightier than the pen.
