April 21 2006
Possible peace talks have been in the public news for a while now ever since Ethiopia’s current ruler announced in the middle of last year that he was ready for peace talks with the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF). ONLF leadership accepted the peace overtures from Ethiopia in a press release dated July 18 th, 2005. ONLF clearly stated its position towards any peace talks with Ethiopia. In line with international principles of conflict resolution, ONLF welcomed these peace overtures from Ethiopia so long as the following three important tenets were accepted by all parties:
- The talks be held in a neutral third country;
- The talks mediated by a reputable country or an international organization which has the authority to enforce the outcome of the peace talks.
- Both parties, ONLF and Ethiopia, must recognize that the inviolability of human dignity and justice are the keys towards lasting peace and development.
Instead of agreeing to have a third party broker these talks, the current head of the regime in Addis Ababa not only proposed the Ogaden Elders be the mediating third party but put also a plan in place to have the elders go directly to the Ogaden community in the Diaspora to sell his, Meles Zenawi, proposals. ONLF respects the position of the elders within the citizens of Ogadenia however since these elders are the stakeholders of any peace talks with Ethiopia, ONLF leadership inherently believes that they can not be the mediating third party able to not only mediate the talks but to also enforce resolutions from any future peace talks.
First vice chairman of ONLF honorable Mohamed Omar Ismail met with the elders inside Ogadenia twice in the past. On both occasions, ONLF thanked the courageous and selfless efforts of the elders in finding a lasting solution for the Ogaden issue. On both occasions, ONLF pointed to the elders the fact that any peace talks should be direct talks between ONLF and Ethiopia with a mediating third country or reputable international organization as the peace broker. Moreover, ONLF, detailed the elders how the head of the regime in Addis Ababa waylaid all efforts to have the world community as a mediating third party in resolving the long standing suffering and injustices committed against the citizens of Ogadenia. The elders were given an official ONLF document clearly stating ONLF position towards peace talks and they not only seemed to have understood ONLF stance in refusing to have the elders as a mediating third party but they also have delivered ONLF message to the current head of the regime in Addis Ababa.
Having understood ONLF position and the impact the clear articulation of this policy will have or already had on the image of Ethiopia, It, Ethiopia, funded a trip to have the elders tour Europe and North America to confound the community in the Diaspora. This is the only reason why the elders are now touring United Kingdom and USA both of which have the largest concentrations of the Ogaden community outside Ogadenia.
Considering the aforementioned facts, ONLF leadership took the decision not to meet with the elders abroad or anywhere else. This decision was articulated in a press release dated January 11 th, 2006 way before the elders were encouraged by the regime in Addis Ababa to have them go abroad. The decision not to meet with the elders anymore was taken since it became clear that Ethiopia was not only using the elders as a tool to confound the community with elusive peace talks but that it was also using the elders as a delay tactic in answering the demands of the world community to have the Ogaden issue resolved through dialogue with ONLF.
ONLF succeeded many times in convincing countries with global political influence to persuade Ethiopia to resolve the Ogaden issue through dialogue. It came to ONLF’s attention that every time these countries approached Ethiopia with peace proposals to resolve the Ogaden issue that Ethiopia’s response was that it understood the necessity of peace talks and was already doing so with ONLF through the Ogaden elders hence no need for third party involvement. This manufactured and false response from Ethiopia not only hinders any progress our struggle could make in getting a political solution to the Ogaden issue but it also waylays political maneuvers ONLF could muster in getting international recognition for the Ogaden struggle.
Currently there are efforts by some western countries to find a political solution to the Ethiopian political crisis. Should these efforts succeed, which ONLF believes they will, Ethiopia will be forced to open unconditional peace talks with grassroots movements such as ONLF as well as all political parties. It is paramount that we take a lions share in any such future developments in Ethiopia. ONLF believes that the only way we could achieve our goals of freeing our people from Ethiopia’s colonial clutches is to strengthen our armed struggle and to increase our political maneuvers at the international arena. ONLF respects and honors the Ogaden elders however ONLF also believes that the elders should refrain from being accessories to Ethiopia’s deceptive political maneuvers. ONLF also asks the elders not to hinder ONLF’s political campaigns in finding an internationally recognized and enforced political solution to the Ogaden issue. Moreover, ONLF reminds the elders the ONLY beneficiaries of their travel and travails abroad are the colonial government of Ethiopia.
ONLF INFORMATION BUREAU
onlfpress@onlf.org
http://www.ogaden.com/ONLPress_Apr2206.htm
