The Somali guerilla group, the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), this week vowed that it will keep up its attacks against the Ethiopian military and government.
The ONLF, a group of ethnic Somali nationalists based in eastern Ethiopia, takes up the banner of past groups seeking self-governance for ethnic Somalis throughout the region, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
Founded in 1984 by members of a variety of ethnic Somali liberation groups, it is often described by Western governments as a separatist rebel group fighting to make Ethiopia's Ogaden region an independent Somali state.
According to military advisors at CFR, ONLF's main tactics include countering government influence in the region and using violent force, including kidnappings and bombings. The ONLF is believed to be responsible for the deaths of thousands of government forces.
On Sunday, during a live radio interview, Hussein Mohammed Nur, ONLF’s information director, told the interviewer that the ONLF held a meeting to "discuss the successes of the rebel group." Nur stated that his group wished to increase attacks to commandeer the mainly ethnic Somali region in eastern Ethiopia.
Nur told the show's listening audience that his group had killed more than 3,000 Ethiopian soldiers in 2010 battles. Ethiopia has designated the ONLF as a terrorist group, saying it has links with Eritrea. However, it is not on the U.S. State Department's or European Union terrorist groups list.
Ironically, members of the ONLF and their families fled the terrorists and warlords of Somalia, only to settle in Ethiopia and begin their own terrorism campaign against the citizens of Ethiopia.
The ONLF split into two factions after some of its members signed a pact with Ethiopia last month. The government said it hoped the pact would end more than 20 years of warfare between ONLF's guerilla wing and the Ethiopian government.
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