(The Daily Monitor) – The Ethiopian government last week freed 402 leaders and members of the ****** National Liberation Front (ONLF), country’s most active rebel movement, which has been fighting for the right of the eastern Somali region to secede since 1984, Ethiopian Television reported.
According to ETV report the release of the prisoners has demonstrated government commitment to the peace of the country and to the peace deal the government has reached with ONLF.
Upon their release, the President of Ethiopia’s Somali region, Abdi Mohammed Omur, said the move is based on the peace accord signed between ONLF and Ethiopian Government.
Last October, Salahdin Abdulrahman led a breakaway group of ONLF which claims to be the main body of the rebel movement and signed a peace accord with the Ethiopian government to end the rebel’s decades of insurgency.
During the occasion Ethiopia’s state prison commissioner Abdi Bedi Ousman said the human rights of the prisoners had been respected as per the constitution of the country during their prison terms.
The commissioner said following the peace deal most of the release and those freed earlier are already actively engaged in the development activities of the region.
The just freed ONLF leaders, members and fighters promised to work with the Ethiopian government and said they will repay their community by aggressively taking part in the development of the region.
The government has pledged to allocate resources to help the members of the ONLF, who signed the peace deal, to reintegrate into society.
Ethiopian authorities have invited the remaining ONLF rebels and other factions to also come to peace talks.
Ethiopia accuses Eritrea of arming and financing, ONLF and OLF. An allegation Asmara denies.
check out this video ONLF freed
http://www.ethiotube.net/video/12313/ET ... rom-prison
