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The following is the text of the ONLF’s response to the UN Monitoring Group report on Eritrea and Somalia.

Ogaden National Liberation Front

ONLF

Memorandum

ONLF’S RESPONSE to Somalia-Eritrea Monitoring Group (S/ 2014/727)

November 6, 2014

ABSTRACT

Somalia Eritrea Monitoring Group published a report claiming that Eritrea has violated the UN ‘s Arms Embargo on Somalia, using ONLF. In the Report the group made malicious allegations about ONLF using dubious sources and interviewing prisoners who had been tortured by Ethiopian security and were under duress. This is ONLF’s response to that biased Report.

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Ogaden National Liberation Front

Memorandum

ONLF’s Response to Somalia-Eritrea Monitoring Group Report (S/2014/727)
November 6, 2014

Excellences

The Ogaden National Liberation Front expresses it high regards to UN Security Council and would like to bring to the attention of the council and the Sanctions committee its complaints and reservations regarding the allegations made by The Somalia-Eritrea Monitoring Group against ONLF in its report S/2014/727 of October 13, 2014 and related previous reports.

Executive Summary

ONLF is engaged in a legitimate national liberation struggle and has a right to defend itself after the Ethiopian regime attacked the legally elected regional administration in 1994. Ethiopian regimes past and present have marginalized, tyrannized and discriminated, and committed war crimes and crimes against humanity against the Ogaden civilian population documented by both the UN and Human Rights organizations.

SEMG has violated the UN code of conduct in its methodology set in reporting and investigating as set in guideline (S/2006/997) by being subjective and biased and by denying ONLF the right of response. Moreover, the SEMG conveniently neglected core issues and essential facts in order to paint an erroneous context of the realities, history and factors that shape and affect the security and peace of the peoples that live in the Horn of Africa.

The UN’s Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group (SEMG) has made serious accusations against the ONLF and violation in International law. Firstly, it used information based on fabricated libels from the Ethiopian secret service and their allied administrations/militias in Somalia. SEMG’s received information from dubious sources that have vested interest in labeling ONLF. Secondly, these accusations are primarily based on information acquired under

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duress from abducted and captured ONLF members (which the SEMG fails to mention in the report) who are under the control of the Ethiopian regime as prisoners. This is a violation of International and Human Rights Laws regarding prisoners’ rights. Thirdly, SEMG breached the guidelines set by the UN to ensure objectivity and impartiality and right of reply for entities investigated. Fourthly, The Group conveniently ignored core issues and essential facts in order to paint an erroneous context of the realities, history and factors that shape and affect the security and peace of the peoples of the Horn of Africa

The claim that ONLF has been deployed and is operating from Somalia is baseless and shows the lack of understanding by SEMG about the history and objectives of ONLF. ONLF military command was formed and is based in the Ogaden. The Ogaden National Liberation Army (ONLA) is an indigenous force based and operating in the Ogaden with large numbers of fighters and support bases. Shifting these bases would not have been an easily concealed affair, from both the AMISOM force and international intelligence services that monitor everything in Somalia.

ONLF has never established or entertained any direct or indirect relationship with Al-Shabab group recently or ever. ONLF is diametrically opposed to the methods and objectives of that group. ONLF members are regularly victimized by Al-Shabab and that is well documented. Moreover, Al-Shabab accuses ONLF of being part of the coalition in Somalia fighting it. In general, many factions in Somalia, on numerous occasions have claimed that ONLF aids groups opposing them in order to solicit aid from Ethiopia. SEMG has used these malicious claims to establish a non existent link between ONLF and Al-Shabab.

ONLF meetings in 2013 were specifically geared to the peace process. ONLF held several meetings at the executive committee level and held one Central Committee meeting. In all these meetings the main agenda was how to find ways to overcome the intransigence of the Ethiopian regime regarding the progress of peace process. Other Agenda items included were internal issues of the Organization, the status of the National Liberation struggle and the dire conditions facing the Somali people in the Ogaden. SEMG tries to demonize any body who has a relation with Eritrea in its reports. The friendly relation between the Eritreans and Somalis established during the long struggles of the two peoples for national self-determination and fight against colonialism predates the independence of the Somali republic. It did not start in 2002, as the SEMG likes to portray it. ONLF categorically and unequivocally repudiates the assertion that Eritrea instigated and supported ONLF to move operational bases to Somalia.

Finally ONLF is not a clandestine organization. Publishing ONLF Central Committee members’ names or other details of ONLF activities shows that the SEMG does not respect the privacy of individuals. In any law abiding society, the sanctity of privacy of individuals is respected until proven guilty in a court of law. Even the Ethiopian regime that claims that ONLF is a terrorist organization has never published ONLF CC names and has not stooped as low as SEMG did.

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A. Introduction

1. This memorandum is written in response to the UN’s Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group (SEMG) false allegations against the ONLF. The report is littered with erroneous accusations and claims that are primarily based on accounts from ONLF prisoners (which the SEMG fails to mention to the reader) under the Ethiopian regime’s control. Furthermore, there is clear evidence that ONLF members abducted by the Ethiopian intelligence service from Kenya and some regions of Somalia who had been extensively tortured and under duress were ‘interviewed’ by SEMG members and information from them used to support some preposterous accusations including links with Al-Shabaab. This note will address these baseless accusations and claims. Moreover, it will pose the more important question of why SEMG is so keen on presenting these fabrications against the ONLF. The numerous international laws SEMG ignored including its own charter will be discussed as well.

B. Background

2. SEMG’s report dated (Oct 2014) neglects the intricacies of the situation in the horn of Africa with no mention of historical, political, economical and social realities. The Ogaden is a territory that has been plagued by conflict that predates the UN and ONLF is among the many organizations past and present who have sought the rights for the Somalis in the Ogaden. Somalis in the Ogaden are inseparable from their brethren in Somalia. The links between the Ogaden and Somalia stretches across the porous border where clan affiliation is borderless and many Somalis from the Ogaden have prominent positions in the current Somali government in Somalia. Similarly, many Somalis from Somalia also hold positions in the purported administration in the Ogaden. For this reason, to accuse ONLF members of travelling to Somalia and arguing this constitutes a breach of the arms’ embargo is out of context and ignores the realities on the ground.
3. ONLFisengagedinalegitimatenationalliberationstruggleandhastherighttodefend its people after the current Ethiopian regime attacked the legally elected regional administration in 1994 and violated their democratic rights agreed in 1991 in the Transitional Charter for self-rule1. They are defending their people, who have been denied their democratic rights of choice, marginalized, tyrannized, discriminated, and acts of genocide committed against them, including war crimes and crimes against

1 The Ogaden People: Past and Present, by Abdirahman MAHDI 3 Apr 2000, THE SIDAMA CONCERN Volume 5, p.4,- p.5 (republished @. http://onlf.org/?page_id=5

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humanity by the Ethiopian regime. These facts are well documented by both the UN2 and Human Rights Organizations3.

4. The Somalis in the Ogaden have been colonized leading to the political and armed struggle resistance that has extended for over a century4. More than half a million people have died since 1884, when Menilik attacked the Somalis. Somalia and Ethiopia fought two wars over the Ogaden and the Somali people in the Ogaden have been ceaselessly struggling for their rights. When Somalia plunged into civil war, the Ethiopian regime took advantage of the situation by dividing the Somali people and supporting warlords in order to destabilize and hamper the formation of a Somali State that is functional and can protects the interests of the Somali people.
5. The seeds of the current conflict were sown after the Second World War, when the victorious powers denied the Ogaden people the right of self-determination accorded to other colonized peoples and the Ogaden was annexed to Ethiopia without any consideration to the wishes and rights of the Somali people in the Ogaden. The UN shunned its responsibility and duty in finding a lasting solution when the Somali republic was formed in 1960 without resolving the Ogaden conflict. Little has changed in the 60 years since and the issue still stands unresolved. The Ogaden conflict is a major factor in the instability of the horn of African in particular Somalia and addressing it will lead to sustainable peace.Since that period, the United Nations , which has systematically ignored the conflict in the Ogaden and the transgressions against the Somali people in that territory, while spending billions in resolving conflicts of similar nature in Africa. ONLF urges the UN to revisit the Ogaden and fulfill its responsibility under international law
6. The UN has a duty of responsibility to protect the Ogaden people from the current Ethiopian regime’s documented Crimes of War and Crimes Against Humanity against the Ogaden people. Therefore, ONLF requests the UN to initiate a political process that addresses the conflict in the Ogaden and follow up its recommendations of the UN mission to Ogaden in 2007. The Somali people in the Ogaden were and are expecting the UN to be a force for good and take part in finding a peaceful solution to the conflict in the Ogaden. Ethiopia will continue to destabilize Somalia as long as the Ogaden conflict rages. Therefore, peace in Somalia is incomplete as long as the right of Somalis in the Ogaden is denied.

2 Report of UN mission to Ogaden 2007 http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/6A654EA1DDF2BE708525735B005D0B3C-Full_Report.pdf

3 Collective Punishment: War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity in the Ogaden area of Ethiopia’s Somali Regional State :

Human Rights Watch (http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/ethiopia0608_1.pdf )

4 See the legal opinion on the rights and history of the Ogaden people by Micheal Reisman : “The Case of Western Somaliland,” 1

Horn of Africa 13 (1978) articles #46 : http://www.law.yale.edu/documents/pdf/Faculty/WMReisman_cv.pdf . Published online with the permission of the author at: http://onlf.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Reisman-Edited-Final-version1.pdf.

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C. The Flawed Methodology Employed by SEMG

7. Prior to 2009, SEMG produced reports that reflected fairness and discussed the role of Ethiopia, by documenting its violations of the arms’ Embargo in Somalia. Post 2009, a clear pattern has emerged which shows bias against all parties that are opposed to the Ethiopian regime. SEMG has repeatedly published reports, which take verbatim the propaganda, and baseless claims made by the Ethiopian regime and used them to discredit and tarnish the image of Somalis and Ethiopian opposition. Reading Aiga Forum, a web portal for the regime’s informal communication clearly demonstrates the similarities between Ethiopian regime’s propaganda and the reports by SEMG. These similarities are are not coincidental. 5
8. Resolution 1732 (2006) of the security council which approved the recommendation of the Informal Working Group of the Security Council on General Issues of Sanctions (S/2006/997) set the standards and methodology to be followed by all working groups. Paragraph 21 states that

   “Monitoring mechanisms should identify the sources of information contained in their reports, ensure that such information is as transparent and verifiable as possible to protect the credibility of findings and the integrity of the process, and check and corroborate all citations and facts.”

9. All the evidence presented by SEMG against ONLF is based on sources that have vested interest in tarnishing ONLF’s image which includes the Ethiopian intelligence services, Puntland administration which has publicly stated that ONLF is its enemy, Somaliland which has helped Ethiopian security abduct Somali citizens from the Ogaden and ONLF members on many occasions. Other sources extensively cited are ONLF civilian officers illegally abducted and detained by Ethiopia or ONLF fighters captured in battle.
10. For example, in presenting evidence regarding ONLF’s involvement in Somalia, the SEMG states in Paragraph 64 of S/2014/727 that the “Deputy chief of Intelligence, Ali Ahmed Hussien Ibrahim Dheere (travelled through route 2) to extended ONLF operational capability in Mogadishu in October 2013 (footnote 63 - Interviews with Ali Dheere in February 2014, March 2014 and May 2014).” What the SEMG failed to mention was that Mr Ali Ahmed Hussein was illegally abducted from Nairobi in January 2014, together with Mr Sulub Ahmed and are currently in detention in Ethiopia6. The ‘interviews’ reported by SEMG paints a picture to the objective reader that conveys that these members were speaking freely, when in fact, they were tortured

5 Eritrea’s Latest Exploits : Girma Abebe 09/01/13 (http://aigaforum.com/articles/eritrea-latest-exploit.php)
6 Kenya: Police officers charged with kidnaping ONLF leaders: http://mobile.nation.co.ke/news/Police-officers-charged-with-

kidnapping/-/1950946/2172088/-/format/xhtml/-/1156qf1z/-/index.htm

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and coached before being ‘interviewed’. The monitoring group have shown complete disregard for human rights and international law since they violate numerous declarations including Article 55 of the UN charter, the Universal Declaration of Human rights and Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political right. In interviewing and using as evidence Mr Ali Ali Ahmed and other ONLF prisoners in Ethiopian government prisons, the SEMG has clearly violated article 15 of the international Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment which states that:

“Each State Party shall ensure that any statement which is established to have been made as a result of torture shall not be invoked as evidence in any proceedings, except against a person accused of torture as evidence that the statement was made”

11. Therefore, the extent to which the SEMG is willing to go to implicate ONLF is shown by the way it used evidence from ONLF detainees, who have been humiliated and tortured, and coached by the Ethiopian regime in order to make allegations against themselves, their organization and people.
12. ONLF has received intelligence that before Ali was interviewed, the Ethiopian regime’s tormentors broke his arm and tortured him extensively. Furthermore, Mr Jawasa who was abducted from Somalia by Ethiopian security service was extensively tortured and his leg amputated. Reliable sources from Jail Ogaden in JigJiga, informed ONLF that he was extensively tortured for three days before he was brought in front of SEMG in a hotel in Jigjiga to be ‘interviewed’. The information acquired from Jawasa and many others like him in his position forms the backbone of the accusations made against the ONLF, which brings to question SEMG’s objectiveness, credibility and respect for the rule of law..
13. Paragraph 28 of the standards and methodologies of Resolution 1732 (2006), states

    “Monitoring mechanisms should emphasize impartiality and fairness during the report drafting process, and make available to relevant parties (State authorities, entities or individuals), if appropriate, any evidence of wrongdoing for their review, comment and response, within a specified deadline. Rebuttals, with an assessment of their credibility, and corrections regarding already published allegations, should be included in subsequent reports.”

14. Although, the monitoring group has targeted ONLF outright, it has not given ONLF an opportunity to review or respond to their accusations. This unfair treatment coupled with the use of abducted and captured prisoners as testimonials has created suspicion in the Ogaden community that the monitoring group is in cahoots with the Ethiopian regime. ONLF believes that the Ethiopian regime’s increased abductions is intended to feed into SEMG purpose of implicating Eritrea by any means. Hence, SEMG is complicit in violating Ogaden peoples’ human rights and their right to asylum in neighboring territory. This public humiliation of ONLF detainees by SEMG has caused

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deep distress and worry to their families, who have no idea of the whereabouts of their loved ones.

D. Eritrean Support to ONLF

15. SEMG’s report (S/2014/727) paragraph 56 refers to its previous reports (S/2011/433 and S/2012/545) and claims that it has documentation that Eritrea supports ONLF. In these reports, the monitoring group presented information acquired from ‘interviews’ with ONLF prisoners captured in combat by the Ethiopian Army as well as exhibiting arms and documentation it claimed were recovered from ONLF fighters inside the Ogaden, Somaliland and Puntland. ONLF categorically states that all the evidence were planted by the Ethiopian security and conveniently supplied to the monitoring group.
16. The relationship between ONLF, Puntland and Somaliland is not secret. Both Somaliland7 and Puntland8 have signed security agreements prepared by Ethiopia in order to justify refoulement of Ogaden refugees and ONLF members to the Ethiopian security services in violation of international and regional refugee and asylum laws9.

    Non-refoulement is a principle of international law, which forbids the rendering of a true victim of persecution to their persecutor. Generally the persecutor in mind is a state actor. It is a principle of both the customary and trucial law of nations10.

17. Both administrations have regularly detained ONLF members and passed them to Ethiopian security services, knowing that they will be tortured and their lives put in danger. In addition, the Ethiopian government maintains strong security presence in both administrations and controls them for all intents and purposes. These administrations are in effect extensions of the Ethiopian security and fulfill the biddings of the Ethiopian regime. One of the most touted testimonials was extracted from Mr Abdinur Sooyaan who was abducted from Garowe, Puntland and extensively tortured. He was later portrayed on Ethiopian TV and forced to humiliate himself to the population by claiming, him and other ONLF members copulate with animals. The late Congressman Donald Paine issued a statement condemning the rendition of Mr Sooyaan and others by Puntland to Ethiopia.11

7 http://www.somaliareport.com/index.php/post/1077/Somaliland_Ethiopia_Sign_a_Security_Treaty
8 http://allafrica.com/stories/200911210001.html; http://sudantribune.com/spip.php?article27016
9 http://www.unhcr.org/protect/PROTECTION/3b66c2aa10.pdf; http://www.unhcr.org/protect/PROTECTION/3b66c2aa10.pdf; http://www.achpr.org/instruments/refugee-convention/
10 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-refoulement
11 http://allafrica.com/stories/200911210001.html; http://sudantribune.com/spip.php?article27016

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18. Furthermore, the SEMG used extensive ‘evidence’ it received from Ethiopian sponsored militia in central Somalia, which is trained, funded and armed by the Ethiopian government. It is clear that SEMG has made it common practice to primarily source evidence from ‘interviews’ with ONLF POWs, who are under the Ethiopian regime’s control and militias affiliated with Ethiopian security, in complete disregard for international law and guidelines set up for the group.
19. The claim that ONLF operates in Somalia and is financed by Eritrea is malicious and sinister attempt to implicate Eritrea by any means. ONLF members are among the bigger Somali community in the Horn of African. A Somali does not need permission from other countries to go or for that matter stay in any Somali territory. Hence, this further deepens the suspicion that the SEMG and Ethiopia have been very actively instigating enmity between ONLF and their Somali brethren. The sole purpose of which is to attack ONLF and Eritrea, serving the needs of the Ethiopian regime.

E. Weapons Procurement

20. The primary source of ONLF’s weapons arsenal comes from Ethiopia. The Ethiopian army and Liyu police are underpaid and regularly provide weapons to ONLF at bargain price. Markets in Somalia are very expensive and the routes are fraught with danger, therefore it has been ONLF strategy to rely on the Ethiopian markets. The Horn of Africa has witnessed the greatest confrontation in African history and there are millions of guns and other armaments. Therefore, the premise that ONLF needs to cross borders or seas to get small arms is baseless. Furthermore, these claims are intended to serve the particular objectives of both SEMG and their Ethiopian ally to besmirch Eritrea and in particular, for the Ethiopian regime to achieve its quintessential objective of once convincing the international community to list ONLF as a terrorist organization.
21. The presence or travel of ONLF members to Somalia does not constitute a breach of the arms embargo nor does it mean ONLF members are there for weapons procurement. ONLF members are Somalis who go to Somalia for numerous reasons such as health, familial visits, education , business and transit to or from other countries.
22. The mere fact that Somali warlords are cooperating with the Ethiopian regime and handing over civilians and ONLF members from the Ogaden, will not stop Somalis from the Ogaden travelling to and living in Somalia. In practice, the colonial borders imposed on the Somali people during Africa’s colonial scramble are irrelevant to the livelihood of Somalis in the Horn of Africa.
23. Furthermore, Ogaden Somalis including ONLF members reside in North America, Australia, Europe, Middle East and Africa. Does this mean those countries have also

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breached the arms Embargo? It is therefore baffling why SEMG claims that a Somali with an Eritrean passport breaches UN resolution 1907 (2009). Then, if the logic of SEMG is followed, other countries that have given Ogaden Somalis passports have also breached UN resolution 1907 (2009).

F. The Central Committee Meeting of 2013

24. Since 1998, ONLF Central Committee (CC) meetings have been held regularly every two years. ONLF meetings in 2013 were specifically geared to the peace process. ONLF held several meetings at the executive committee level and held one Central Committee meeting. In all these meetings, the main agenda was how to find ways to overcome the intransigence of the Ethiopian regime regarding the progress of the peace process. Other Agenda items included were the internal issues of the Organization, the status of the National Liberation struggle and the dire conditions facing the Somali people in Ogaden.
25. Therefore, the allegation that the Eritrean government organized the conference in order to strategize and move ONLF operational sphere to Mogadishu is a pure invention intended to justify the false premises that ONLF has moved its operational base to Mogadishu. Moreover, SEMG claims that the meeting was attended and directed by Eritrean officers which shows SEMG’s unfamiliarity of the Ethos and the Raison d’etre of ONLF. ONLF is an independent organization that makes its own decisions. The allegation that Eritrean officers attended ONLF Central Committee meetings is pure fabrication planted by Ethiopia in order to defame ONLF and implicate Eritrea and sold to SEMG. No one but the ONLF leadership sets its’ strategy.
26. As for the contention that ONLF moved its operational base to Somalia, specifically Mogadishu, it is evident to any sane person with a rudimentary understanding of military strategy, that a Liberation Army numbering tens of thousands cannot make such a drastic move to Mogadishu without being noticed by AMISOM command in Somalia or international intelligence services monitoring the Somali territory. Furthermore, the claim that ONLF can operate with ease in Mogadishu while finding it difficult to operate in the Ogaden wilderness of more than 400, 000 sq. kms shows lack understanding of basic military doctrine. Therefore, the assertion that ONLF has moved its headquarters to Somalia and left behind its bases in the Ogaden is intended to mislead the Security Council.

G. Purported Relationship with Al-Shabab

27. ONLF has never established or even entertained any direct or indirect relationship with Al-Shabab. ONLF is diametrically opposed to the methods and objectives of that

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group. ONLF fully supports the establishment of a democratic Somali state and has publicly announced its full and unconditional support for the Federal transitional Government of Somalia.

28. Al-Shabab believes and has published in its affiliated websites that ONLF has been given contract by the USA to fight Al-Shabab because ONLF leaders visit America regularly and live in Western European countries.12 Furthermore, Al-Shabab assassinates any ONLF member it identifies and is at war with ONLF.
29. It is the habit of Somali factions from Somaliland to Southern Somalia to claim that ONLF is supporting their opponents, in order to get Ethiopian sympathy and support. Just recently one clan claimed that ONLF has supported its opponents in a clash fought near Beledwayne. In addition, Somaliland has on numerous occasions claimed that ONLF supports Khatumo state in the Sool area. Therefore, it comes as no surprise when the governor of Bakool also made similar claims that ONLF was supporting Al- Shabab in order to seek Ethiopia’s support after his clan militia was defeated. Subsequently, the Ethiopian security and army reported that they found Al-Shabab hosting ONLF fighters, which is clearly a self-serving lie that the Ethiopian regime has been consistently rehashing since the beginning of ONLF-Ethiopian war started.
30. Ethiopia always needs a scapegoat to mask the Ogaden people’s struggle against its unjust rule and always claims a third party is instigating an Ogaden rebellion against it. From 1960 to 1991, it was always Somalia and Arab countries. Then from 1994 to 2002 it was Al-Itihad- Al-islami and more recently, from 2002 to the present day, it is either Eritrea or Al-Shabab.

H. ONLF Members’ relationship with Somalia officers

31. The people in the Ogaden are Somalis who have relatives all over Somalia. They live, work, do business and also inter-marry with their brethren from the Somali republic. It is not secret or hidden that ONLF members travel to Somalia and converse with Somali leaders from Djibouti, Somaliland, Puntland, Central Somalia, the Federal Republic of Somalia (FRS), Bay and Jubaland . Therefore, claiming that a member of ONLF had a conversation with a Somali leader and this indicates that ONLF has relocated to Somalia is illogical and a weak attempt to justify pre-mediated objectives. Since, Somalis are a clan-based society and all Somali clans are found on both sides of the border, there are no restrictions in movements to and from Somalia.

12 Article claming that ONLF has been given a project by the USA to fight Alshabab: 01/11/2004 at 11:00 gmt

http://www.webmail.al-qimmah.net/showthread.php?t=231

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32. If ONLF members converse with officers of Federal Republic of Somalia (FRS) that does not necessarily indicate that they are talking about bases or arms deals. Moreover, there is no injunction against ONLF that bars it from contacting any government in the world let alone their Somali brethren. ONLF constantly communicates with the USA, the EU, Asiatic and African countries seeking support for its cause. Therefore, it is not a crime to get in contact or have a relationship with the government of Somalia. Somalia is one of the major stakeholders in the Ogaden due to its ethnic, economic and border ties with the Ogaden and in any future settlement of the Ogaden problem, Somalia will have to participate in order to get a lasting peace in the Horn of Africa. The arms embargo on Somalia does not specify that ONLF can have no relationship with Somalia. The misinterpretation of the relationship between Somali leaders and ONLF by the SEMG shows its lack of understanding of the history and deep ties between the Somali people in the Horn of Africa.
33. As for military activities in Somalia, ONLF recognizes the Federal government of Somalia and is not at war with any faction or clan in Somalia, so there is no need for it to establish bases there. Finally, ONLF has never engaged with Ethiopia on Somalia territory.

I. Summary

In summary, ONLF is not violating the arms embargo of Somalia. It has not established bases in Somalia nor does it have any military relationships in Somalia. ONLF supports the Somali people and the Republic. ONLF urges the UN to revisit the Ogaden and fulfill its responsibility under international law.The UN has a duty of responsibility to protect the Ogaden people from the Ethiopian regime’s transgressions. The UN shunned its responsibility and duty in finding a lasting solution when the Somali republic was formed in 1960 without resolving the Ogaden conflict. Little has changed in the 60 years since and the issue still stands unresolved. The Ogaden conflict is a major factor in the instability of the horn of African in particular Somalia and addressing it will lead to sustainable peace. Therefore, ONLF requests the UN to initiate a political process that addresses the conflict in the Ogaden.

Finally, ONLF requests the Security Council to stop SEMG’s the baseless smear campaign against ONLF and desist from violations of international laws against Ogaden prisoners. Those responsible for such transgression shall be made accountable. It is unjust to victimize the Ogaden people who are already suffering from the collective punishment of the Ethiopian regime instead of alleviating their plight perpetrated by the ruthless regime in Addis Ababa.

By The Ogaden National Liberation Front November 6, 2014