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From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Mon May 16 2011 - 15:36:57 EDT
Ethiopia rebels say govt troops kill 100 civilians
Mon May 16, 2011 4:28pm GMT
* Addis Ababa often rejects rebel claims
* Rebels say troops tried to 'silence' U.N. witnesses
* Two U.N. workers still missing
By Aaron Maasho
ADDIS ABABA, May 16 (Reuters) - Ethiopian government troops have killed more
than 100 civilians, including a local U.N. worker, during a five-day
military operation in the oil and gas-rich Somali Region, a rebel group said
on Monday.
More commonly known as the Ogaden, the ethnic Somali province is home to a
low-key insurgency led by the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), which
has fought for independence since 1984.
Government officials could not be reached for comment.
"The Ethiopian army and its local conscripts killed more than 100 civilian
people from May 10 - 15 in the area, (and it) is still on going," the ONLF
said in a statement.
"The (ONLF) intelligence service has ascertained that the Ethiopian army
conducted the killing and abduction of U.N. local staff in the Ogaden
jointly with the notorious militia of the (local) administration," it said.
The United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP) said on Saturday that one of
its drivers had been killed in an ambush by unknown gunmen in an attack that
left another staff member wounded.
Two members of the convoy were also missing, WFP said.
The ONLF said the incidents occurred while government troops conducted
"kill-on-sight" operations in the Ogaden's Fafan valley and that the attack
on the U.N. convoy was an attempt to "silence" its employees who had
witnessed the operations.
Authorities in Addis Ababa were not immediately available for comment, but
they usually reject the group's claims as "baseless propaganda".
The allegations are impossible to verify because journalists and aid groups
cannot move unhindered in the area.
This is not the first time the ONLF has accused government troops of
atrocities in the region. The group said in January that soldiers had
arbitrarily executed civilians and carried out ethnic cleansing in the
province, a charge dismissed by the authorities.
Ethiopian forces waged an offensive against the rebels in late 2007 after
the ONLF staged a pre-dawn attack on a Chinese-run oil facility, killing 74
people. Analysts say the rebels have since been weakened, but are still
capable of launching hit-and-run attacks.
Ethiopia signed a peace deal in October with one faction of the ONLF, though
another wing labelled the deal "irrelevant". The faction with which Addis
Ababa sealed the accord says it represents 80 percent of the group's
fighters.
The Horn of Africa nation says the Ogaden basin may contain gas reserves of
4 trillion cubic feet and major oil deposits. (Editing by Richard Lough and
Elizabeth Fullerton)
C Thomson Reuters 2011 All rights reserved
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