Ogaden National Liberation Front

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Ogaden flag used by the ONLF

The Ogaden National Liberation Front (abbreviated ONLF ; Somali Jahbadda Wadaniga Xoreenta Ogadenia or Jabhadda Waddaniga Xoreynta Ogaadeenya JWXO , Amharic ኦጋደን ብሔራዊ፡፡ነጽነት ግንባር ; German about “Nationale Ogaden Liberation Front”, “National Liberation Front of the National Liberation” or “National Liberation Front of the Ogaden” für den Ogaden ”) is an Islamist movement founded in 1984 in the Somali region of Ethiopia , which seeks the secession of this region from Ethiopia, also known as Ogaden .

The ONLF's armed arm is the Ogaden National Liberation Army (ONLA).

history

ONLA fighters

The ONLF emerged in 1984 from parts of the Western Somali Liberation Front (WSLF), which had fought against the Ethiopian government in the Ogaden War (1977–1978) and in the following years and was largely defeated at that time. Like the WSLF is the ONLF mainly in Somali - Clan of Ogadeni- Darod anchored, which represents the majority of the population in the region. In contrast to the WSLF, which was controlled by the Somali government under Siad Barre and fought to join a Greater Somalia , the ONLF distanced itself from the Barre regime and is striving for independence for the region. This is also evident in the naming, because while “West Somalia” implies the goal of unification with Somalia, “Ogaden” stands for an independent identity of the region.

When the EPRDF overthrew the communist Derg military government of Ethiopia in 1991, the ONLF initially became a partner of the EPRDF under the Somali alongside the WSLF . For the first transitional assembly in Addis Ababa , the EPRDF awarded three of the Somali seats to the WSLF and one to the ONLF. The ONLF won around 60% of the seats in the regional parliament in the first elections in the newly formed Somali region in 1992 and provided the regional government for a year (afterwards members of the WSLF or independent candidates from the Ogadeni clan). The ONLF mainly represented the interests of the Ogadeni clan and advocated naming the region "Ogaden", but failed because of resistance from other clans who rejected this name as a sign of Ogadeni supremacy. The region was consequently given the broader name "Somali". However, the ONLF pushed through that the city of Gode in the Ogadeni area became the regional capital.

In 1994 the ONLF fell out with the EPRDF when the regional parliament declared its intention to secede. In the next elections in 1995, the Ogadeni nationalists had to cede power to the Ethiopian Somali Democratic League (ESDL), which was approved by the central government and comprised various non-Ogadeni clans. Since 1992, the EPRDF had developed a strategy against the secessionist aspirations of the ONLF. The ONLF's election losses were due to the fact that there were internal divisions and radical parts of the organization boycotted the election, and the constituencies were changed in favor of the other clans.

In 1998 the ESDL and moderate representatives of the legal ONLF united to form the Somali People's Democratic Party (SPDP), which has since been a regional partner of the EPRDF.

Goals and Activities

The ONLF accuses the Ethiopian government of marginalizing and suppressing the Somali. Since 1994, parts of the ONLF have been engaged in guerrilla warfare again, mainly with attack-like attacks ( hit-and-run ). They are mainly active in the areas dominated by the Ogadeni clan of Fiq , Korahe , Degehabur , Gode and Warder , where they enjoy popular support; however, not all subclans of the Ogadeni support the ONLF equally, and even among the Ogadeni there are different views about the organization, its goals and procedures. In addition, the ONLF has informants and sympathizers in almost the entire region. The government combats the ONLF by politically isolating the more militant sections of the group and using occasional military operations against them and their alleged supporters, while politically involving moderate representatives. The ONLF has grown in strength in recent years as it receives support from Eritrea, which is hostile to Ethiopia .

The ONLF and the Oromo Liberation Front ( OLF) were also in the Somali capital Mogadishu in 2006 when it was controlled by the Union of Islamic Courts . ONLF, OLF and the Union were supported by Eritrea, and the fear of a merger of Islamists, ONLF and OLF with Eritrea in the background contributed significantly to Ethiopia intervening against the Union of Islamic Courts in Somalia in late 2006. Many ONLF leaders were trained in Arab states in the 1960s and 1970s, and some of them have Islamist views, but overall the ONLF represents a secular Ogadeni nationalism and has distanced itself from more radical Islamist groups. Fighting with the extremist Somali al-Shabaab is said to have broken out in 2007, and the ONLF is said to have worked with US troops in the region against Islamists.

From the beginning of 2007 the ONLF intensified its attacks against military convoys and administrative institutions. She also turns against Chinese companies that are searching for oil and natural gas in the region and that she accuses of having pushed nomads from their pastures to facilitate the search for oil and gas. In April 2007, the ONLF carried out a major attack on an oil field in Abole (in the Degehabur zone ), in which 65 Ethiopians and nine Chinese were killed. Since then, the conflict with the Ethiopian army has come to a head. Above all, the army, but also the ONLF, are said to have committed human rights violations against the civilian population. Both sides act aggressively against people they suspect are collaborators with the other side. The ONLF has also been involved in conflicts between the Ogadeni and other clans such as the Isaaq .

See also

Web links

Commons : ONLF  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ IRB - Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada: The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), its structures, activities and coordination, if any, with the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) [ETH29660.E]: July 15, 1998
  2. ↑ Alex de Waal : Islamism and Its Enemies in the Horn of Africa, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers: 2004, p. 204
  3. ^ Ioan M. Lewis: Understanding Somalia and Somaliland. Culture, History and Society. Hurst, London 2008, ISBN 978-1-85065-898-6 , p. 71.
  4. ↑ Alex de Waal: Evil Days. Thirty Years of War and Famine in Ethiopia. Human Rights Watch, New York NY et al. 1991, ISBN 1-56432-038-3 , p. 344.
  5. ↑ a b c d e Tobias Hagmann, Mohamud H. Khalif: State and Politics in Ethiopia's Somali Region since 1991. ( Memento of the original from August 31, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / tobiashagmann.freeflux.net archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Bildhaan. An International Journal of Somali Studies. Vol. 6, 2006, ISSN  1528-6258 , pp. 25-49, (PDF; 121 kB).
  6. ↑ Abdi Ismail Samatar: Ethiopian Federalism: Autonomy versus Control in the Somali Region. In: Third World Quarterly. Vol. 25, No. 6, 2004, pp. 1131-1154, here pp. 1138, 1141, doi : 10.1080 / 0143659042000256931 .
  7. ↑ a b c d Human Rights Watch: Collective Punishment - War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity in the Ogaden area of ​​Ethiopia's Somali Region. 2008.