َ(ST) NAIROBI – Ethiopia’s Ogaden rebels who carried out a raid against a Chinese-run oilfield last year denied the arrest of eight of their members in connection with that attack as it was announced by the government.
The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), in a statement published on Monday, dismissed the arrest, saying that the government claim intends to “divert attention from its ongoing genocide against the Ogaden people.”
The rebel statement added that all its members who participated in the last year attack are safe.
“Members that dislodged the Ethiopian army and the Exploiters from Obole are safe and not in the custody of Ethiopia.” The ONLF said.
74 people were killed in the rebel attack against a Chinese oil field in eastern Ethiopia on Tuesday April 24, 2007 — Nine Chinese workers of Zhongyuan Petroleum Exploration Bureau (ZPEB) and 65 Ethiopian. It was the first attack against a foreign company in Ethiopia.
Ethiopia is not an oil-producing country. But companies such as the Chinese one and Malaysia’s state-owned oil giant Petronas have signed exploration deals.
The rebel front reiterated its determination to stop “any attempt to steal the natural resources of the Ogaden people until they institute a genuine democratic government that represents them.”
The Ogaden National Liberation Front began armed resistance against the government of Ethiopia in 1994, creating a separatist war pitting impoverished, guerrilla nomads against one of the biggest armies in Africa.
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Woyanne claims it arrested 8 suspects in oilfield attack
By Peter Martel
(Reuters) – Ethiopia Woyanne said on Sunday security forces had arrested eight men suspected in connection with a deadly rebel raid last year on a Chinese-run oil field.
The state-run Ethiopian News Agency said the detainees belonged to the separatist Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), which killed 74 people during the April 2007 attack in the remote eastern Ogaden region.
It said they were also accused of taking part in a grenade attack in the regional capital, Jijiga, where two people died.
“These suspects in the terror acts had roles ranging from serving as accomplices to coordinating the atrocities committed against civilians,” the report said.
It listed eight names and said investigations were continuing, but did not say when or where they were arrested.
The ONLF say they are fighting for autonomy for their ethnically Somali region. Both the government and rebels accuse each other of grave rights abuses, and aid workers say nearly a million people there need humanitarian help.
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(Reporting by Tsegaye Tadesse; Writing by Daniel Wallis)