ONLF delegates have been delivering the peace message to the people in the Ogaden region and calling its army to come out of hiding and put down their weapons to take part in the peace programs between the government and the organisation.

ONLF sent home its members to persuade the Ogadenian people with the peace treaty it began with the Ethiopian government in early June 2010. Since then, several delegate heads travelled to six zones of the Ogaden region that are among the most troubled areas due to the
conflict.

The ONLF information secretary Abdulahi Ibrahim speaking to the population of Fik town at the gathering held in the town yesterday said “the ONLF will not stop the struggle for self-determination, but it changes the strategy by laying down guns to stop displacement and death of the civilians and to use a peaceful method within Ethiopia.”

Mr. Ibrahim is one of the longest serving member of the ONLF organisation during the struggle andhas held different responsibilities within the organisation. He was the first ONLF official to visit Addis Ababa to deliver peace.

Other delegates lead by Fuad Farah [xidhkayome], of the ONLF deputy secretary of the social affairs is in the Wardertown of the Dolo region in the South eastern of Ogaden. Other regions the ONLF delegates are visiting include Korahae [Kebrideher], Jarar [Deghbur] and Shabele [Gode].

The delegates are giving an explanation of the peace teary to the people. It is perceived that the peace agreement will be underway precisely before the national conference is held, which is expected to be held in October 2010.

ogaden.info

The ONLF came from the people of Ogaden and will always care about its people first. The ONLF has received the peace offer from Ethiopia and have consulted with the Ogadenian intellectuals, elders,
traditional leaders and its own members regarding the peace deal and all have agreed with no hesitation with the peace offer without losing their objectives.

The government and the ONLF have caused pointless losses of human life and the destruction of property. So without looking back in the past, the ONLF believes that it is the time to rethink and face the reality with regret and start changing the conflict mannerisms into one that cares for the mothers and children dying daily because of the conflict in the Ogaden region.

The ONLF is one organisation with one leader under Eng. Salahudin Abdirahman Haji Maow, and no one can confuse or stop the peace agreement accepted by the Ogaden people.

The previous leader Admiral Mohamed Omar Osman who was dishonourably discharged from the ONLF leadership in July 2007 is desperately attempting to identify wrongly the peace agreement between ONLF and Ethiopia, which originated Germany on June 2010.

Admiral Mohamed Omar Osman is not acting like one of the Ogadenian people but he is acting  by himself with a few disillusioned followers that happen to be his relatives whom use to spread propaganda on the internet pages by denying the organisations’ peace deal with Ethiopia.

The ONLF is willing to abide by a genuine peace settlement with the Ethiopian federal government alongside conditions in October 2010.

|Ogaden National Liberation Front [ONLF]
Foreign Bureau|

August 24, 2010

ogaden.info

An analyst has expressed concern Somali residents in the United States could be violently targeted by Americans after Attorney General Eric Holder announced the indictment of 14 people charged with providing support to the hard-line Somali insurgent group al-Shabab.

Faisal Abdiroble said there have been instances where Somali residents in the state of Minnesota have gone back to Somalia to be suicide bombers or joined the ranks of the insurgent group fighting the Transitional Federal Government (TFG).

“There is the potentiality that some elements who favor al-Shabab and radical religious movements probably could be found in Minnesota. Minnesota has a large underclass Somali community who have been neglected either by [the] government welfare system, or otherwise. It will not be a surprising thing to find that there are Somalis who sympathize with al-Shabab,” he said.

Attorney General Holder said at a news conference Thursday that the indictment sheds additional light on a deadly pipeline that has provided funding and fighters to the al-Shabab terror organization from cities across the United States.

Analyst Abdiroble said the indictments will send a message of the U.S. administration’s seriousness in decisively dealing with supporters of the insurgents, both internationally and inside Somalia.

The indictments came a day after federal agents arrested a 26-year-old man from Chicago hours before his scheduled trip to Somalia.

Prosecutors say Shaker Masri had been under investigation for 18 months, but, in the past month, and became increasingly serious about his planned trip to Somalia, where he hoped to launch a suicide attack against the Somali administration. He is now charged with providing material support to a terrorist organization.

The internationally-backed Somali Transitional Federal Government has been battling almost daily with hard-line Islamic insurgents who have vowed to overthrow the administration to implement the strictest form of the Sharia Law.

Analyst Abdiroble said the Somali administration is too weak to withstand the threat posed by the hard-line Islamic insurgents.

“I must emphasize that there isn’t much left of the [Somali] government that the U.S supports. [President] Sheikh Sharif’s government is literally a government that doesn’t exist in Somalia. Al-Shabab has taken most of the country,” Abdiroble said.

ogaden.info

African Union leaders have agreed to reinforce the AU peacekeeping force in Somalia to tackle al-Shabab militants.

At a summit in Uganda, they approved a request to send 2,000 more troops to the Somali capital Mogadishu.

Rules of engagement are to be changed to allow the troops to fire first if they are facing imminent attack.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni had wanted a tougher mandate to “eliminate” the al-Qaeda linked group that allowed forces to go on the offensive.

He told the BBC that AU peacekeepers were “confused” by the current mandate.

“They don’t understand what they are doing. So they need a robust answer, a robust incisive answer,” he said.

Dozens of people were killed two weeks ago in twin bomb attacks in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, which al-Shabab said it had carried out.
Analysis

With a limited mandate the AU peacekeepers have almost been sitting ducks because they could respond only after being attacked by al-Shabab and other insurgents.

Angered by the bomb attacks in Kampala, President Yoweri Museveni wanted the green light for an all-out offensive.

The AU heads of state have chosen the somewhat safer middle ground; the peacekeepers can carry out pre-emptive attacks but there will be no change of mandate.

This decision is unlikely to make a significant difference on the ground but should help shore up the transitional government, especially if more equipment and troops arrive soon.

However the presence of more foreign troops in Somalia and the deaths of more civilians could well play right into the hands of al-Shabab.

It wants to paint the AU mission, like the earlier Ethiopian intervention, as a foreign invasion and in so doing gain more support from Somalis and possibly jihadists way beyond the country’s borders.

Mr Museveni’s call for the AU force to be able to go on the offensive against al-Shabab was not taken up by the African Union leaders, but the force will now be able to carry out pre-emptive attacks against the hard-line Islamist insurgents.

The summit also approved requests for new equipment for the force.

Troops from Uganda form a large part of the AU’s 6,000-strong peacekeeping mission in Somalia. Burundi is the only other country to contribute to the force, known as Amisom.

BBC East Africa correspondent Will Ross says the extra 2,000 troops are likely to come from Guinea and Djibouti – as previously announced – but precise numbers and dates for their deployment remain unclear.

Before the Kampala summit, Somalia’s embattled UN-backed government had asked for troops from Muslim countries to prevent al-Shabab portraying the AU force as “infidels”.

Both Guinea and Djibouti have Muslim majorities.

The government, backed by the AU, controls only a few parts of the capital, Mogadishu, while al-Shabab and its allies run much of southern Somalia.

The African leaders gathered in Kampala amid tight security and a heavy military presence.

They observed a two-minute silence for the victims of the 11 July bomb attacks, which targeted people who were watching the football World Cup final at a Kampala restaurant and a sports ground.

Mr Museveni told AU delegates that “many of the organisers” of the attack had been arrested and their interrogation was “yielding very good information”.

In a statement released before the meeting, Mr Museveni said the attacks would worsen al-Shabab’s situation.

“These reactionary groups have now committed aggression against our country,” the statement said. “We have a right of self-defence. We shall now go for them.”

Our correspondent says there is concern that any offensive against al-Shabab could increase the number of civilian deaths and make the AU mission extremely unpopular with the Somali population.

rasaas.com

Puntland President Abdirahman Sheik Mohamed says the security forces killed 13 Islamist fighters after they attacked an army post near the commercial capital, Bosasso.

The mountain raid was the first time Puntland’s forces have clashed with al-Shabab, analysts say.

The al-Qaeda-linked group controls much of southern and central Somalia.

At least two members of Puntland’s security forces were also killed in the clashes in the mountains near Galgalo.

Puntland is semi-autonomous from the rest of Somalia but is allied to the embattled, UN-backed government in Mogadishu.

The Puntland authorities have recently rounded up and deported hundreds of young men in Bosasso and sent them to Mogadishu, accusing them of being al-Shabab sympathisers.

rasaas.com

More than 30 heads of state from the AU’s 53 members gathered amid unprecedented security in the Ugandan capital, two weeks after suicide attacks in the city claimed by Somalia’s Shabaab group killed 76 people.

The bombings that ripped through crowds watching the World Cup final were meant to bully Uganda into pulling out of the AU mission in Somalia (AMISOM), the last thing standing between the Shabaab and total power.

Uganda reacted by saying it could send 2,000 more troops and urged more decisive international support, while the embattled Somali government argued the attacks were evidence Somalia required the world’s attention.

“Guinea is ready to immediately dispatch a battalion,” AU chief Jean Ping said at a press conference in Kampala on Friday. “We are going to quickly top the 8,000 mark… I think the current trend could take us over 10,000.”

Diplomats in Kampala say that Angola, Mozambique and South Africa may also pledge troops, whose current deployment consists of just over 6,000 Ugandans and Burundians.

The Shabaab leadership has proclaimed its allegiance to Osama bin Laden and the group’s first bomb attacks outside Somalia renewed fears that the Horn of Africa country could become a new safe haven for Al Qaeda.

Ping also reiterated at the press conference that the African Union was seeking a tougher mandate for AMISOM under the United Nations Charter’s chapter seven, allowing it to take more aggressive action.

“If this request is answered positively, our troops will attack,” he said.

Troops from the United States and the United Nations have previously not been able to crush the insurgency in Somalia, which has been without an effective government for two decades.

Eritrea, which is under international sanctions and has been accused of supporting the Shabaab, argues that the Islamist insurgency needs to be engaged at the negotiating table than on the battlefield.

“We believe that military involvement can not bring a peaceful solution,” Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh told AFP Friday on the sidelines of the pre-summit ministerial gathering.

The Shabaab — as well as Mogadishu residents and rights groups — have criticised AMISOM for causing civilian deaths by shelling targets in densely-populated areas.

Analysts have warned a beefed up AMISOM mandate could make things worse.

“We are quite worried about the consequences of such an operation, because if they are engaged in quite an indiscriminate manner, they run the risk of playing in the hands of the Shabaab,” said the International Crisis Group’s Ernst Jan Hogendoorn.

The continent’s leaders are also expected to discuss the future of Sudan, where the oil-rich south is due to hold a referendum on independence in January.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, whose movements have been under close scrutiny since the International Criminal Court issued a warrant against him over the war in Darfur, did not attend the gathering, AU sources said.

In a year that saw a raft of elections, Africa’s top officials and diplomats are also expected to reflect on the progress of democracy and accountability in member states.

Elections in Burundi are being boycotted after opposition claims of fraud, polls in Ethiopia were marred by similar accusations and Rwanda’s ongoing campaign has been tarnished by murders and arrests.

The only recent elections that met international standards were those in Somaliland, which is not a state.

The northern Somali breakaway territory has been asking for international recognition for years and hopes that its smooth and democratic transfer of power will boost its case with the African Union.

Ogaden.info

Jul 17, 2010 – The delegates will visit the war ravaged region of Ogaden and will inform their fighters that the war is over. The delegates will open several camps in six regions in order to peacefully re-group the fighters.

ONLF was broken into two factions in 2007 due to an internal power struggle between Dr. Mohamed Sirad Dolal and ex-Somali admiral general Mohamed Omar Osman. Mohamed Omar Osman led ONLF has extended his term in power three times and later refused to step down when his term expired in 2007.

The majority of the ONLF senior central committee backed Dr. M S Dolal, and appointed him to lead the ONLF, Unfortunately on January 2009, Dr. M S Dolal was assassinated, when admiral Omar Osman arrived in Ogaden from Eritrea with 40 members of his tribesmen. The assassination is believed to have been ordered by Mr. Osman.

Salahdin Maow replaced Dr. Dolal as the leader of the ONLF, and has recently organised peace talks with Ethiopia.

However, Admiral Osman is still claiming he is the leader of ONLF and has vetoed any peace talk between ONLF and Ethiopia.

The Ethiopian election has postponed the ONLF timetable for peace talks, and they are expected to be re-started soon after the coming weeks.

staff: Hussein Badal

source: prlog.org

The July 11th al Shabaab attack in Uganda has caused unease among Somalis in Mogadishu, as they expect the 3,500 Ugandan AU peacekeepers to seek revenge, and to kill a lot of civilians in the process. Al Shabaab often uses civilians as human shields, who get killed in the crossfire. The AU peacekeepers are from black African nations that have long suffered from the arrogance and violent behavior of Somalis. An AU offensive in Somalia would get pretty nasty, particularly because the AU troops have shown no reluctance to shoot up human shields al Shabaab might use. It’s because of these volatile attitudes that the AU and UN are reluctant to turn the peacekeepers loose in Mogadishu. Al Shabaab, meanwhile, is experiencing more internal dissension because of the Uganda bombing. The foreign al Qaeda men who urged the bombings be carried out, and probably advised on how to do it, are now less popular. Many al Shabaab members are aware of the superior combat power of the foreign troops, and that al Shabaab cannot stand up to this kind of force, especially if it contains a lot of Ugandans seeking revenge. Thus there is now more opposition to al Qaeda within al Shabaab, and Somali Islamic radicals in general.

Uganda believes the al Shabaab bombing in Uganda was carried out by at least twenty al Shabaab members who entered Uganda (via Kenya) several months ago. Police have arrested nine Somalis in Uganda, and accused them of participating in the terror plot.

July 15, 2010: Uganda offered to supply another two thousand troops for the Somali peacekeeping force, to bring it up to strength (8,100), if no other nation comes forward. Uganda already has 3,500 troops in Somalia.

The U.S. has pledged to provide more support for peacekeepers in Somalia, especially if those peacekeepers are allowed to do some peacemaking against Islamic radical groups (like al Shabaab). The U.S. has a special operations base in Djibouti (on Somalia’s northern border), as do special operations troops from France and other NATO nations. The U.S. Special Forces troops run discreet intelligence operations in Somalia, including the use of UAVs. In the past, the U.S. has armed these UAVs with Hellfire missiles, and has had warships off the coast hit targets in Somalia with cruise missiles.

Worldwide pirate attacks have fallen 18 percent this year (for the first six months), from 240 attacks to 196. Because of the anti-piracy patrol, attacks in the Gulf of Aden fell over 60 percent (from 86 to 33), while attacks farther off the east coast of Somalia increased 16 percent (to 51). Somali pirates have seized 27 ships in the first six months of 2010, most (16) of them far at sea.

July 14, 2010: Uganda has asked for the African Union (AU) to change the ROE (Rules of Engagement) for the peacekeepers in Somalia, so that these troops can go after al Shabaab. The AU follows the UN in having its peacekeepers forbidden to take offensive action.

Ugandan police have already been arresting suspects in the July 11 bombing. The U.S. FBI, which has long maintained some personnel in Uganda, to coordinate efforts against Islamic terrorists, was quick to provide the Ugandans with data on what al Shabaab might be up to. The U.S. monitors al Shabaab as much as possible, but rarely shares the data, in order to safeguard the sources and methods used to collect it.

July 13, 2010: Many members of the AU are calling for more peacekeepers to be sent to Somalia, and for these troops be allowed to go after Islamic radical groups. Al Shabaab thought the attack would intimidate the 52 AU members, but it has had the opposite effect. Most AU members, especially the non-Arab ones, are enraged and want vengeance and justice.

July 11, 2010: In Uganda’s capital, two suicide bombers attacked a large group of Ugandans and foreigners watching the World Cup final, as well as an Ethiopian restaurant, killing at least 76 people. A third suicide vest was found in a suburban disco, where the bomber apparently had second thoughts. Al Shabaab later took credit for the attack. Al Shabaab has been threatening such attacks for months, in retaliation for the presence of Ugandan peacekeepers (and largely non-Moslem ones at that) in Somalia. Only about 12 percent of Ugandans are Moslem, and only a few of those are radicals. But that would have been enough to help the Somali radicals plan and carry out an attack. Ugandan police promptly arrested the usual suspects in the Ugandan Islamic radical community, and some of these guys turned out to have al Shabaab connections. Uganda does not border Somalia, but does share a long border with Kenya, which is home to over a million Somali refugees.

July 10, 2010:  On the Ethiopian border, at least sixteen were killed when a Somali militia clashed with Ethiopian troops.

Al Shabaab has acted on its pledge to conscript young men to join the fight against the Transitional Government and various Somali militias. Today, at least a hundred young men were forced, at gunpoint, to “join” al Shabaab.

ogaden.info

Police chief Kale Kaihura said reports from the blast sites – both restaurants – suggested that 23 people were killed and many others were injured.

“The information we have indicates 13 people have died here at the Ethiopian Village [restaurant] and many others are injured and more than 10 people are reported to have died at the rugby club,” Kaihura told Reuters.

Both venues were packed with people watching the World Cup final when the bombs went off, according to a police spokeswoman.

Police said it was possible those behind the attacks were targeting foreigners.

“The information we have indicates the people who have attacked the Ethiopian Village were probably targeting expatriates,” Kaihura said.

Kaihura said he believed that the Somali Islamist militia group al-Shabab or the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army could be behind the attacks.

“We have evil-minded characters who have been warning us, like the ADF [Allied Democratic Forces, a rebel group based in the Democratic Republic of Congo], al-Shabab and the Lord’s Resistance Army.

The Lord’s Resistance Army waged a two-decade war in northern Uganda before crossing into Sudan and also into central Africa.

If al-Shabab was involved, it would be the first time the insurgent group has carried out attacks outside of Somalia.

Uganda has troops serving in Somalia as part of a 6,000-strong African Union peacekeeping force which helps to protect the UN-backed government. Last year al-Shabab, which has pledged loyalty to al-Qaida threatened to attack Kampala due to Uganda’s support for the Somali government.

It has been a long conflict and it has caused lots of suffering for the Ogaden people. It has caused numerous children to be orphaned and many women without their husbands. This suffering has gone on for too long and it is the people in Ogadenia that it affects the most and we should think of them when we decide the future of Ogadenia.

The group of people that have been sabotaging the ONLF has failed at their own objectives. Mohamed Omar Osman’s plan to murder my father and thus destroy the ONLF has not happened. It is growing in strength everyday. Mohamed Omar Osman, Abdiraham Mahdi, Mohamed Ismaail and Cadaani Hiromogee sub-clan cleansing has not worked either, the Ogaden men and women that have contributed to Dr. Mohamed Sirad Dolal, Murxuum Luqoowe Muxamed Tayse and Jamal Odol have not broken the ONLF and its people. We know what they have done and will not let anyone forget it. I will tell my children and they will tell their children who killed their grandfather and the Ogaden people will never forget Dr. Mohamed Sirad Dolal. Furthermore the Ethiopian government said that they will not talk to Mohamed Omar Osman and do not recognise him as the chairman of the ONLF. He was jealous of my father for his integrity and values, now he is jealous of Eng. Salahdin Maow for leading the ONLF.

The propaganda Mohamed Omar Osman feeds to the Ogaden people is not working. Even the Ethiopian government is backing away from him and all the meetings he has will not make him like my father, he doesn’t even come close.

I heard that Mohamed Omar Osman, Abdiraham Mahdi, Mohamed Ismaail and Cadaani Hiromogee were all in a restaurant called ONLF and this was a special restaurant that had the members of the ONLF on their menu. Mohamed Omar Osman said I want have Dr. Mohamed Sirad Dolal’s shoduler and Abdirahman Mahdi said to Cadaani Hiromogee if you are going to have the head of Jamal Odol then I want his eyes and Mohamed Ismaail said I want Murxuum Luqoowe’s leg. They all enjoyed their meal and afterwards said to each other we better hide the evidence and blame it on the hyenas. I thought that metaphor really summarised the callous way in which these men have tried to eat the Ogaden men and blame it on Ethiopia.

The ONLF have recognised that there are many Ogaden people that support them. In addition the Ogaden people are starting to understand that these men are trying to destroy the ONLF and what it stands for. The conference in Frankfurt, Germany is a breath of fresh air and it is a significant moment in history for the Ogaden people and it emphasises that the ONLF is alive and will not let a few try to demolish the many men and women which have died and sacrificed their lives for this cause. Moreover it tells Mohamed Omar Osman that he is a fool to think that he could divide and conquer the ONLF.

I do not know what will come of the talks with Ethiopia, but I hope that the ONLF can get some sort of peace for the people that live in Ogadenia and have to survive the suffering everyday.

Sagal Dolal
sagaldolal@hotmail.co.uk