"recent months ONLF forces have strengthened significan

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4780273.stm



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Ethiopia rebels 'ready for talks'
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi

Prime Minister Meles said dialogue with the rebels had failed
Separatist rebels in Ethiopia say it is untrue that they are not willing to talk peace with the government.

Ethiopian troops are currently engaged in a big operation to flush out Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) rebels near the border with Somalia.

The ONLF chairman told the BBC that it was the government that was hindering dialogue and he denied accusations that his fighters were killing civilians.

Analysts say that in recent months ONLF forces have strengthened significantly.

They have reportedly been receiving help from Eritrea and from Somali Islamists.

In response, the Ethiopian army has deployed thousands of troops to the desolate region and there have been heavy causalities on both sides.

Biased

The Ogaden region in eastern Ethiopia shares a long and porous border with Somalia, and most of its people are of the Somali ethnic group.


The people in Ogaden are the backbone of the our struggle
ONLF's Mohammed Omar Osman

Last week, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said that attempts at dialogue between Somali elders and the ONLF had failed.

But the ONLF's Admiral Mohammed Omar Osman said the government had sent mediators who were biased and that the current crackdown was "nothing new".

Correspondents say the region's pastoral nomads have borne the brunt of the fighting as the government and ONLF rebels accuse each other killing members of the public.

"Our policy is not to fight the same people we're fighting for," Admiral Osman told the BBC.

"The people in Ogaden are the backbone of the our struggle. They give us the milk and food we need as we as nurse our injured," he said.

He said that any civilians who had been killed had been armed by the Ethiopian government. When asked if the ONLF were being armed by Eritrea and Somalia, Admiral Osman said that any group that supported their cause was a friend.

The ONLF took up arms against Mr Meles' government in the early 1990s demanding independence for Ogaden because of what they said were injustices in the region.

[Steeler [Crawler2]]

"the ONLF's Admiral Mohammed Omar Osman said the government had sent mediators who were biased and that the current crackdown was "nothing new". "

Admiral? The Ogaden is land-locked

[The rebel]

I did a quick google and found out that guy was Admiral in Somali Force Siyad Barre's time. So technically he is Somali.

[Galol]

Face

It is good news for the ordinary people that ONLF are at least talking. I hate to denigrate a Somali's fight for his rights but I always felt the ONLF should exhaust all political avenues before taking up arms.

The Tigray led regime were looking for allies against the dominant Amahara power bases and they would have given somalis almost everything short of outright cessation. So why the ONLY chose the gun I really never understood.

Lets hope cool heads prevail this time.

[The_Patriot]

nobody would compromise peace with war unless he is a lunatic.

Galol as you know the 1st few years ONLF was the ruling party in Ogaden.
And was experiencing partial federalism.

with the advent of Al_Itixad everything changed.
As Al_Itixad was mostly comprised of Outsiders(Somalia) they never wanted to negotiate anything and declared war on Ethio(then fully backed by Eritrean Soilders).

They would have been successful to topple the Ethio govt as they went closer to awash river past Diredawa.

The Ethios as historicaly went to USA for assistance and were given suppreme Air power support( Apache, helicopters & F16 etc) and together with Eritrea they were able to defeat the Al-Itixad after a 3 day heavy Battle in Gode hence Al_itixad retreated to Somalia.

Things changed after and Ethio have always been suspcious of Somalis to the extent that certain rights were nullified and the federal Somali region changed into A puppet Govt where there was no progress and mass killings was rampant.

Hence ONLF backed down and became sucessionists.

ONLF has gained immense power since especially after receiving assistance from Eritrea.

ONLF cannot in itself Topple the TPLF (woyane) Govt but it can demonstrate that it has power to reckone with as Ethio has 100's of Thousands of military at its disposal.

but with the raise in opposition to the Woyane Govt several Ethnic groups have took up arms like EPPF(Amara),OLF, Gambela, Hizboch and strangely Tigray forces that oppose the current Govt.

Not forgeting the political War in Addisababa.

So the Giant is anyway dying a slow death that 1 blow is needed to finish it and it might be the ICU.