OAF,
yes indeed, the leadership sold us out, like abdi illey sold out your people for a cheap price; but they will get theirs, and will never be forgiven.
it's not a secret that many ONLF defected to Liyyu, while the rest are too small in number to make a dent in the regional forces/or the federal forces.
about ONLF being part of the TGE, I am sorry--yes you are right, ONLF was part of TGE, but: it said after the derg fell; but it never participated in the major battles that brought it down-as the OLF did, side by side with EPLF and EPRDF. it didn't capture the capital, like the EPLF, EPRDF AND OLF did. After EPRDF, OLF had the most troops, and the most seats.
the ESDL was formed because ONLF called for a referendum in 1994, and the government would not just sit there and watch 33% of ETHIOPIA secede, that's common sense.
read:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/392488.stm
Ethiopia, for example, supported the leaders of Puntland and Somali land for strategic and economic reasons, and backed the RRA to keep the Eritrean supported Aideed at bay and crush the Islamic fundamentalist al-Ittihad in Gedo. Eritrea supported Aideed to frustrate Ethiopia on its southern frontiers, so that Ethiopia would be sandwiched between the Eritrean forces from the north and Eritrean - Aideed -Oromo-alliances from the south..
https://books.google.com/books?id=oFwwA ... 8Q6AEIQzAF
''Ethiopia's relations with Sudan and Djibouti have improved since the conflict with Eritrea, while Ethiopia's long border with Somalia makes it vulnerable to cross-border insecurity and military diversions. Armed Oromo and Somali rebels have stepped up activities since the war began. Ethiopian government troops pursuing Oromo rebels across Ethiopia's southern border have, according to the Kenyan media, occasionally clashed with Kenyan troops. Recent mine incidents which have killed one and injured 12 people near Moyale in northern Kenya are being blamed by local
politicians on OLF activity.
As well as Oromo and Somali armed opposition, mentioned below, Ethiopia had been dealing with a low-level insurgency in the northeastern Afar region. After the de facto independence of Eritrea in 1991, the Afar found themselves divided between three states: Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti. Afar rebels still fighting in Ethiopia are known as the Ugogomo or 'revolution' party. Djiboutian FRUD official Ahmed Dini said he had no recent information about Ugogomo. Some of the disputed areas on the
Ethio-Eritrea border are within the Afar areas. The Eritrean government has published letters which show that Ethiopia was in pursuit of Ugogomo rebels in the Bada area in mid-1997.''
and the OLF was active before the ONLF was even existent.
and it didn't have much backing from anyone-it depended on itself.
not to mention it had to fight Ethiopia, backed by russia, on their western front, and had to fight the somali army, backed by russia too, in the east. with no backing, from no one. that is bravery. imagine if we had the white man arming us too? we'd have kicked ass.
as far as its famous operations, here:
The Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) was founded back in 1973, but there was little or no information about it for many years. Reports about its operations appeared in January 1990, when the Front launched a surprise attack capturing three towns and several villages on Ethiopia's border with Sudan and wiping out a great number of government troops. At that time, the OLF captured Asosa, the chief town of Asosa Province in the west of Ethiopia, and six Cuban doctors who worked in the ...
https://books.google.com/books?id=NwgLA ... sQ6AEINTAD
''The Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) has already liberated areas in Hararghe around the ancient Muslim city of Harar in the east, Wallaga in the west, Arsi, Bale and Sidamo. Most of the OLF's recent successes are concentrated in the Hararghe region (and in Wallaga), where the regime is being denied access to human and material resources. The significance of this event cannot be over-emphasized, because Oromoland provides most of Ethiopia's conscript army and 80 percent of its GDP''
https://books.google.com/books?id=5SttA ... gQ6AEIRDAF
when did ONLF ever administer that much land? OLF administer land in the west, and in the east, parts of oromia.
how much did ONLF ever administer?
https://books.google.com/books?id=XD9oF ... mo&f=false
check out the distrubtion of seats in the TGE too.
also keep in mind that, the TPLF had to join up with OPDO, EPLF, and ANDM, just to fight OLF in their camps, while they handled the ONLF with just their army. that shows who's the bigger threat.