ADDIS ABABA, Feb 18, 2008 (AFP) — Over 300 police officers suspected of links with rebels have been arrested in Ethiopia’s restive Ogaden region as part of a government crackdown, state-media reported on Monday.
Regional police commissioner [Woyanne mercinery] Yussuf Mohammed was quoted as saying: “309 police officers suspected of having links with the anti-peace elements of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) have been apprehended.”
Yussuf did not give a time span but said “rebel hideouts” and communication avenues had been “wiped out” by government forces. [He said the same thing some 3 months ago].
“We are in a position to completely destroy the ONLF in a very short period of time,” he said.