Ogaden - Reason to Issue ICC Arrest Warrant against Criminal Gangster Meles Zenawi
Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
July 11, 2008
Both countries are fake; they are the result of colonial expansion. Sudan emerged as Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, and then through what is called ´decolonization´ – which is the latter phase of the colonization – appeared as a supposedly independent country, whereas Abyssinia expanded over no less than 12 African, Kushitic or Nilo-Saharan nations, invading their lands, killing their kings and leaders, expropriating the indigenous peoples from their lands, and performing genocide for at least 10 different cases over the past century.
Both countries represent excruciating tyrannies based on fake ideologies, Sudan being supposedly an ´Arabic´ country, and Abyssinia turning (through usurpation of a historical name that never belonged to it) to be ´Ethiopia´.
Both ideologies consist in provocative alteration and violation of the historical reality and both ideologies are absolutely of racist character, which means the imposing parts, the Arabic speaking group in Central Sudan (which is purely Kushitic – Meroitic in its origin) and the Amhara and Tigray Monophysitic Abyssinians in Abyssinia should – only for the reason of diffusing these two ideologies (Pan-Arabism and ´Ethiopianism´) – be considered as threats against the Mankind – no less than Hitler and the Nazi regime of Germany.
Due to the racist nature of the state ideologies in Sudan and Abyssinia, genocides could easily take place. The Furi Nation of Darfur are Muslims but this did not save them from the Pan-Arabist pestilence of Khartoum. The (partly) Christened Oromos and Anuak have been repeatedly butchered by the supposedly Christian (in fact heretic Monophysitic and pseudo-Christian) Abyssinians.
The recent cases of genocide in Darfur and Ogaden are of similar nature, reason, implication and repercussions. The same appalling crimes have been carried out in both cases. The recent HRW Report on Ogaden provides sufficient reasons in order to internationally treat Zenawi in absolutely the same way as Al Bashir of Sudan. To offer relief to the tyrannized nations of the Furis and the Ogadenis and be fair in both cases, an ICC arrest warrant against the ´Ethiopian´ ´president´ – gangster Zenawi must be delivered to him within short notice.
In the case of Ogaden, the propinquity of Somalia and the risk of an Islamist avalanche should be given additional consideration.
To underscore the chaotic and inhuman situation that currently prevails in Ogaden, in the light of ICC arrest warrant issued against Al Bashir, I republish
1) an report ´US confirms ICC arrest warrant against Sudanese president´ from the Sudan Tribune,
2) an O.N.L.F Statement On Ethiopian Obstruction of MSF Aid Operations,
3) news published in the world press about Medecins Sans Frontieres pulling out of Ogaden (due to the dictatorial and inhuman practices of the gang Zenawi) ´Medical aid group pulls out of Ethiopia's Fik region after government harassment´,
4) an O.N.L.F Statement: On the Illegal Killings of Prisoners in the Jigjiga Prison, Ogaden,
5) a Radio Freedom audio website on ONLF recent victories over the criminal Amhara and Tigray thugs sent to Ogaden as ´national army´ (Ethiopia: Ogaden rebels claim killing 33 government soldiers in latest fighting), and
6) an illuminating feature written by Jamal Osman on /Ethiopia´s Hidden Horrors´.
1. US confirms ICC arrest warrant against Sudanese president
http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article27821
July 11, 2008 (Washington) — The US State Department confirmed Friday that prosecutors from the International Criminal Court were to seek an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir for genocide and crimes against humanity in Darfur.
"I understand that there is some notice that the prosecutor intends to go before a panel of judges to present information and request for a warrant," department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.
He was asked to confirm reports that ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo will seek the arrest warrant Monday in the first-ever bid before The Hague-based tribunal to charge a sitting head of state with war crimes.
"My understanding of the procedures is that the panel of judges will take the request and advisement and make some decision in some period of time. I can´t tell you how long it would be," McCormack said.
Some UN officials feared the move to haul up Beshir could complicate the peace process in Darfur and trigger a military response by Sudanese forces or their proxies against UN and African Union peacekeepers.
McCormack warned Sudan against taking any such action.
"I would simply say that it is our view that all parties, including Sudan, need to abide by their international obligations.
"In the case of Sudan, this means their international obligations vis-a-vis deployment of peacekeepers and, of course, we deplore any violence that takes place, whoever is responsible for that."
2. O.N.L.F Statement On Ethiopian Obstruction of MSF Aid Operations
http://www.ogaden.com/onlfp110708.htm
The Ethiopian regime continues to pursue a policy of collective punishment against the civilian population of Ogaden. The latest manifestation of this policy is the blatant interference in the work of the Swiss branch of Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) in the Fik area of Ogaden.
Ethiopian armed forces have deliberately prevented the delivery of humanitarian aid by MSF solely for political reasons affecting thousands of innocent men, women and children. This interference has resulting in the halting of MSF operations in that area altogether.
Deliberate starvation, denial of medical aid, extrajudicial killings and arrests and the torching of village huts have all now become commonplace in Ogaden. Despite this, the international community, particularly donor nations, continue to provide hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to a regime that enjoys no legitimacy and has even less regard for human life.
The world community should be under no illusion that left to its own devices this regime will continue to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ogaden.
Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF)
onlfpress@onlf.org
3. Medical aid group pulls out of Ethiopia's Fik region after government harassment
http://www.ogaden.com/msf100708.htm
Geneva (AP) - The aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres says it is pulling out of Ethiopia's Fik region because of persistent government harassment.
MSF representative Hugues Robert says staff members have been denied work permits and detained without reason.
Robert says Thursday's decision means that the group's efforts to provide medical care to ethnic Somali inhabitants in the Fik region are on hold indefinitely. The group also is known as Doctors Without Borders.
Ethnic Somalis have been fighting for greater autonomy or independence since Ethiopia seized the eastern region of Ogaden in a war with Somalia 30 years ago.
4. O.N.L.F Statement: On the Illegal Killings of Prisoners in the Jigjiga Prison, Ogaden
http://www.onlf.org/onlf07102008.html
The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) condemns in the strongest terms the wounding of innocent prisoners in a prison called Ogaden Jail at the outskirts of the city of Jigjiga .
On July 04th, 2008 at around 8:00 PM Local East African Time, a contingent of the Ethiopian security and armed forces visited the Ogaden Jail and started shooting indiscriminately at the prisoners. Eyewitness accounts confirm that wounded prisoners were not allowed to get prompt access to doctors and medical care. In addition the situation in the prison is tense and the prisoners are in danger of further abuses. This deliberate wounding of prisoners cannot be justified under any circumstances.
In fact, most of the inmates at this prison have never been charged with a crime, let alone convicted. The prison houses the innocent civilians seized for allegedly sympathyzing the ONLF.
The Ogaden civilian population deserves the attention and the prompt intervention of the international community. The United Nations in particular must intervene urgently to avert the risk of further bloodshed in the prison. The international community continues to fail to give proper attention and consideration to the gross violations of human rights and war crimes being committed by the Ethiopian regime in Ogaden. Rather, the Ethiopian regimes continues to recieve economic and political support encouraging them to defy all international norms of respecting basic human rights in Ogaden.
We appeal to the international community to go behind the Ethiopian facade and find out the extent of the crimes committed by Ethiopian security and armed forces against the maltreated people in Ogaden as well condemn this heinous act by the Ethiopian army.
The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) extends its sincere condolences to the families and relatives of the victims who's relatives were harmed in the despicable terror attacks that too place in 'Jail Ogaden' and reiterates its condemnation and disapproval of all State sponsored terror acts against the civilian population of Ogaden.
Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF)
5. Ethiopia: Ogaden rebels claim killing 33 government soldiers in latest fighting
http://www.ogaden.com/onlanws090708.htm
Text of report by Ethiopian opposition Radio Freedom audio website on 8 July
Our [Radio Freedom] correspondent in the Ogaden [southeastern Ethiopia] reports that at least 33 Ethiopian colonialist soldiers have been killed and 36 others have been wounded in the latest battles between ONLA [Ogaden National Liberation Army] and colonialist troops. The battles took place as follows:
On 4 July 2008, colonialist soldiers were attacked four times in a place called Malqaqa in Galalshe district, killing 13 soldiers and wounding 15 others.
On 3 July 2008, four colonialist soldiers were killed and five others were wounded in a battle that occurred in Samu in Danod district. On the same date, five colonialist soldiers were killed and three others were wounded in a battle that took place on the outskirts of Yu'ub town. Also on 3 July, a nocturnal attack was carried out against colonialist soldiers stationed in Malayko town. Casualties suffered by them are unknown.
On 2 July 2008, seven colonialist soldiers were killed and six others were wounded in a surprise attack launched against them in a place called Dih Dher in Degeh Bur district.
On 29 June 2008, colonialist soldiers based in a place called Kalyal in Kebri Dehar district were attacked. Four colonialist soldiers were killed and seven others were wounded in the attack.
Source: Radio Freedom, Voice of the Ogadeni People audio website in Somali 8 Jul 08
6. Ethiopia´s Hidden Horrors
By Jamal Osman
http://www.mg.co.za/article/2008-07-11-ethiopias-hidden-horrors
Suleikha Mohamed Adan, a 30-year-old widow and mother of five, was living a difficult nomadic life in the harsh Ogaden region of eastern Ethiopia when government soldiers came to her house and arrested her.
Her husband and father were killed last year by government forces, who accused them of the same crime for which she was arrested: sympathising with the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), a group fighting for self-determination for the Ogaden region.
"My five children were crying when they tied my hands behind my back and kicked me to the ground," said Adan, who now lives in Kenya, as she wiped the tears from her face. "I was blindfolded and they threw me like a ball on to a military truck."
After two nights, Adan found herself in an underground prison in the town of Godey where she was kept for 15 months with hundreds of other prisoners.
"Soldiers would take me out to beat me up and sometimes rape me," she said, sitting in her room in Eastleigh, Nairobi. "Younger women were the soldiers' favourites. While I was there I saw two old men hanged from the roof with a wire and they both died."
Adan escaped and feels very lucky to have got away from the worsening situation in Ogaden, a region that has been embroiled in conflict for decades.
Somalia and Ethiopia have twice gone to war over the region, which is populated by ethnic Somalis, and which each country claims as part of its territory.
The Ethiopian military campaign has intensified since the ONLF attacked a Chinese-run oil installation in April last year, killing 75 people, including nine Chinese workers.
A report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) released late last month accuses the Ethiopian regime of committing widespread abuses against civilians. "The Ethiopian army's answer to the rebels has been to viciously attack civilians in Ogaden," said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at HRW.
"These widespread and systematic atrocities amount to crimes against humanity. Yet Ethiopia's major donors -- Washington, London and Brussels -- seem to be maintaining a conspiracy of silence around the crimes."
Ethiopia has become a close ally of the United States since the September 11 2001 attacks. Western governments and institutions -- including the US, the United Kingdom, and the European Union -- give the country at least $2billion in aid each year.
Many of the civilians living in the conflict zone in Ogaden are nomads who are constantly on the move in search of fresh grazing.
Maryan Nur Ahmed (52) said her house, in a village near the town of Shilabo, was raided at night by the Ethiopian military.
Jailed by Ethiopian forces, she was repeatedly tortured but the soldiers considered her too old to be raped. Instead, they raped her daughter when she visited the prison.
"They used to say [an] old woman is [no use]," said Ahmed, who is now also in exile in Kenya. "I have 10 children, but my youngest child is the only one with me here in Kenya. I do not know if the others are safe."
She said that the soldiers often tortured and killed prisoners. After five of her fellow inmates were killed, she decided to escape. "One night, I realised the guard was falling asleep and I used my chest to walk like a snake," she said, describing how she wriggled out of the prison.
HRW has also condemned Ethiopian forces for imposing a series of measures aimed at cutting off economic support to the ONLF, including a trade blockade of the war-affected region and the obstruction of humanitarian assistance.
"The government's attacks on civilians, its trade blockade and restrictions on aid amount to the illegal collective punishment of tens of thousands of people," said Gagnon. "Unless humanitarian agencies get immediate access to independently assess the needs and monitor food distribution, more lives will be lost."
In July last year the Ethiopian government expelled the Red Cross from the region. It has since permitted some United Nations agencies and NGOs to operate, but only under tight controls.
HRW has also criticised the ONLF for violating the laws of war, including summary executions of Chinese and Ethiopian civilians during the Obole attack and the killing of suspected government collaborators.
The Ethiopian government has denied HRW's allegations. Foreign journalists who have attempted to conduct independent investigations have been arrested.
Note
Picture: Save, Liberate Ogaden now!
http://dhanaan.com/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1205962638&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1&