An ONLF Press release
For immediate distribution
The Ethiopian Army Eastern Command in Ogaden at its HQ in Harar has called the Regional Administration and Elders from Somali community of the Shinile region in Ogaden and ordered the evacuation of all Somali settlements along the Addis Ababa- Djibouti Tarmac highway that passes through the region by 5 June, 2014. The community was ordered not to get closer than seventy kilometers to the tarmac on both sides. The regime’s Army “officers” told the flabbergasted Somalis to evacuate four districts, including Cadaytu, Xundhufo, Gadhmalu and Afcase, including all wells and settlement within the designated areas, abandoning their traditional grazing lands and watering points.
Moreover, the Army told the elders that anyone found in the designated area will be considered a terrorist and summarily executed, while confiscating all their property.
The Community elders told the Ethiopian representatives that their community will never accept this decision and will seek just and will resist. However, the officers retorted and told them that they will arm the Afar community who will do the killing for us.
This is not only a violation of the human rights of the Somali people in Ogaden but also a macabre instigation of inter-communal civil war in the area that will further exacerbate the already volatile inter-communal conflicts. This pattern of land grapping is also happening in Gambela, Oromia, Sidama, Kafacho-shekecho, Amhara, Afar and Beni-Shangul areas in the name of Development
ONLF calls upon the international community to condemn this banal act and take effective steps in reining this murderous regime that is making Ethiopia the graveyard of Human Rights.
ONLF calls upon the Somali people to unite and resist this pariah regime and avoid its plot to use nations in Ethiopia against each other. ONLF will not be an idle bystander while the regime tries to dismantles Somali communities in Ogaden.
Issued by ONLF