Ogaden
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Ogaden".

This article is about the geographical area. For the Somali clan, see Ogaden (clan).
ONLF flag
ONLF flag

Ogaden (pronounced and often spelled Ogadēn]) is the international name of the Somali Regional State in Ethiopia. The inhabitants are predominantly ethnic Somali and Muslim. The title "Somali Galbeed", which means "Western Somalia," is often preferred by some clans.

The region, which is around 400,000 square kilometres, borders Djibouti, Kenya, and Somalia.[1] Important towns include Degehabur (Dhagaxbuur in Somali), Gode (Godey), Jijiga (Jigjiga), Kebri Dahar (Qabridahare), Shilavo (Shilaabo) and Werder (Wardheer).


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Contents

History

Map of Ethiopia highlighting the Somali Region.
Map of Ethiopia highlighting the Somali Region.

Ogaden was part of the Muslim Ifat Sultanate in the 13th & beginning of the 14th centuries. The sultante's borders extened to the Shoa - Addis Ababa area. Then the region formed and had its own Adal kingdom from late 14th to the last quarter of the 19th centuries. There was an endless conflict between Adal kingdom and the Christian Kingdom of Abyssinia through centuries. during the first halve of the 16th century, almost all of the modern Ethiopian territory became under the rule of Adal , when Imam Ahmed guray (the leader of Adal's Army) conquered Abyssinia. [2]


During the last quarter of the 19th century, the region was conquered (With the military and political assistance of Italy, Russia and France) by Menelik II and Ethiopia gained it by treaties in 1897.[3]

In practice, Ethiopia exerted little administrative control east of Jijiga until 1934 because of the fierce resistance by Somalis in Ogaden. when an Anglo-Ethiopian boundary commission attempted to demarcate the treaty boundary the people of the Ogaden uprised against the demarcation. This boundary is still disputed. [4]

The region was reunified with Italian Somaliland in 1936 by Italy. Following their conquest of Italian East Africa, the British sought to let the Ogaden be unified with British Somaliland and the former Italian Somaliland, to realize Greater Somalia which was the desire of Ogaden Somalis.[5] Ethiopia unsuccessfully pleaded before the London Conference of the Allied Powers to gain the Ogaden and Eritrea in 1945, but their persistent negotiations and pressure from the USA eventually persuaded the British in 1948 to abandon all of the Ogaden except for the northeastern part (called the Haud), and a corridor (called the Reserved Area) stretching from the Haud to French Somaliland (modern Djibouti). The British ceded these last parts to Ethiopia in 1954.[6]

In the late 1950s, internal unrest in the Ogaden resumed. The Western Somalia Liberation Front, spurred by Muktal Dahir, used guerrilla tactics to resist Ethiopian rule. WSLF (with Somali troops' support)freed 90% of the region in the late 1970s [[Ogaden War]. During the Ethiopia's reoccupation of the Ogaden, massive civilians were killed, the Whole villages and towns were razed to the ground.

In 2007, the Ethiopian Army launched a military crackdown in Ogaden. The main rebel group is the Ogaden National Liberation Front under its Chairman Mohamed O. Osman, which is fighting to liberate the Ogaden from what they see as Ethiopian occupation. The Somalis who inhabit Ogaden claim that the Ethiopian military kill great number of civilians, and destroy the livelihood of many of the ethnic Somalis. Numerous international rights organizations accuse Ethiopian regime of committing abuses and crimes that "violate laws of war,"[7] as a recent report by the Human Rights Watch indicates. The ONLF attacked a Chinese Oil company in Ogaden during the April 2007 killing 65 Ethiopian troops and 9 Chinese workers.[8] According to US House of Representatives committee, the Ethiopian troops have killed, tortured civilian, and committed crimes against the nomads in the region. [9]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Gebru Tareke, "The Ethiopia-Somalia War of 1977 Revisited," in Board of Trustees, Boston University, The International Journal of African Historical Studies. Boston University African Studies Center, 2000, p. 636.
  2. ^ A History of the Ogaden (Western Somali) Struggle for Self - Determination, first edition(London:Mohamed Abdi , 2007), ps. 4-12.
  3. ^ Bahru Zewde, A History of Modern Ethiopia (London: James Currey, 1991), p. 113.
  4. ^ Lewis, Modern History, p. 61
  5. ^ Bahru Zewde, p. 180.
  6. ^ Bahru Zewde, p. 181.
  7. ^ Ethiopia: Crackdown in East Punishes Civilians (Human Rights Watch, 4-7-2007)
  8. ^ Connors, Will (2007-09-05). "Why We Don't Hear About the Conflict in the Ogaden: When an American reporter started digging, he was forced out of Ethiopia.". Slate.
  9. ^ US Committee on Foreign Affairs on Ethiopia

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