NAIROBI (AFP)–Ethiopia’s Ogaden rebels Friday scoffed at government statements they were losing their battle and said that Addis Ababa was attempting to divert world attention from a spiraling famine.
Ethiopian Prime Minister dictator Meles Zenawi Wednesday said that 95% of rebels in the Ogaden, an oil-rich region populated by ethnic Somalis, had been killed or captured.
However, the Ogaden National Liberation Front, or ONLF, laughed off the assertion as “a sign of the level of desperation the current regime has reached in dealing with the realities in the Ogaden.”
“ONLF is stronger and more effective than ever and is capable of launching operations at will, when and where it wants,” the rebel group said in a statement received by AFP in Nairobi.
The Ethiopian Woyanne army launched a crackdown in Ogaden after ONLF rebels attacked a Chinese oil venture in April 2007 that left 77 people dead.
Access to the area has been largely denied to humanitarian groups and journalists, sparking international concern over the fate of its estimated 4 million inhabitants.
“These utterances of Meles are PR exercises intended to divert attention from the fact that millions of Ethiopians are facing famine and hunger,” the ONLF said.
According to the U.N., 3.4 million Ethiopians require food aid in southern and central regions as a result of a devastating drought.
Email This Post |
FORUM | 3 Comments
95% killed or captured.hmmmmm what a lie is this? Woyanne is not good in numbers. Woyanne should tell X number Killed and Y numbers captured. 95% of what??????????????? 95% of 10
,95% of 100, 95% 1000,…..
We did not know the original number of ONLF. Woyanne gave us more quations than answer.
[Reply]
May 23rd, 2008 at 5:20 PM
melese the traitor is doing what he came to do -for some reason we seem to let him ride as he pleases – what else are we waiting to talk about – he knows we don’t have the required organization or determination to stand and fight for our right let alone for the poor people that are suffering – he knows us too well – we are just chatter boxes – yesturday was bademe now sudan boarder – all we have been doing is scream and yell- no more that is why he does not care what we say since it has no teeth – may be the new organization of genbot 7 may rattle a few feathers but it too is just a cry in the wilderness if it does not have a footing in the country – but no political manouvering without the will of the people and use it as a negotiating lever.
[Reply]
May 23rd, 2008 at 6:46 PM
let Ethiopians unite and defeat this woyane gangs
[Reply]
May 24th, 2008 at 5:16 AM