SUNDAY, 09 JANUARY 2011 23:21 OGADEN ONLINE EDITORIAL
Clan Chauvinism: The Last Card on the TPLF’s Crumbled Deck of Cards
The Tigrian People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) clique that has misruled Ethiopia in general and certainly colonized the Ogaden region played a number of cards in order to destroy the ever strengthening armed rebellion in the region. At first, the clique tried trickery through the ballot box by holding elections in the region.
When the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) succeeded in not only contesting the elections peacefully, but also won an overwhelming majority in the early 1990s, the TPLF ruling clique in Addis Ababa retorted to its plan B.
It waged an all out war on both the elected members of the organization and whatever remained of its guerilla fighting force. In a mistaken belief that it could curtail the wants of the Ogaden populace, it also started to detain civilians on mass, maimed many, and raped both women and children.
When again all the extrajudicial detentions, killings, and rape of civilians in the Ogaden could not diminish the citizenry’s wholehearted support of the ONLF and its ever strengthening armed rebellion.
The TPLF blockaded the entire region three years ago. Again this total blockade failed to achieve TPLF’s only goal of destroying ONLF’s armed rebellion.
Now it appears that the TPLF clique in Addis Ababa has played the last card on its crumbled deck of cards. Meles Zenawi, the head of the TPLF clique in Addis Ababa, appears convinced that clan chauvinism could help him fracture the support the Ogaden populace has for the ONLF both inside the region and in the Diaspora communities.
To accomplish his objective he has unleashed his minion in the region, the head of the so-called Somali regional state, to publicly claim at every occasion the superiority of his clan among the many that inhibit the vast Ogaden region.
He, Mr. Zenawi, has publicly stated that a certain clan has led the rebellion as if the military might of the ONLF could be explained by such a simple notion. Furthermore, he has sent out clan chauvinists to the Diaspora communities to spread the clan gospel to what he thinks would be a receptive audience.
We, the Ogaden Online Editorial Board (OOEB), are convinced that this latest TPLF plan will fail the same way both its military maneuvers and its political shenanigans have failed. However, we warn the Ogaden populace both inside the region and more so for those in the Diaspora to not fall for this latest trickery.
We inherently believe that the way to foil this propaganda is to attack the mumbled Tigrian message instead of tackling the clan messengers. We plan to do our part in a series of in depth investigations that we will be publishing in the coming weeks so stay tuned.
