November 25, 2007 - 15:35
Who does the ONLF represent?    

Who is in fact responsible for the present agony of Ogaden clan? Who is really responsible for the ever growing chasm that exist today between the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) led Ogadenis and the rest of Somali Ethiopians whose vast regions stretch from the Hawash valley in the west and Gasshaamo in the east, where the Ethiopia’s major cities are located? Does ONLF legitimately represent all Somalis in the autonomous region of Ethiopia?

Would the unilateral declaration of purely an Ogaden liberation front (ONLF) by former Barre’s generals serve as a wakeup call for the rest of Somali Ethiopians to head off any future guerrilla intrusions, and other planned conspiracies that otherwise would have a destabilizing effect in their own regions? Would the present alliance formed by the non-Ogaden Somalis bring peace and lasting stability to the whole region? What kind of a person is, in fact, the ONLF leader?

To acquire the necessary humility and the wisdom of understanding the geographical structure and the population distributions of the Somali inhabited regions in eastern Ethiopia, let me take the honour of inviting you to a short sightseeing trip into the main cities. Come with me!

Perhaps the best way to see and enjoy some of the breathtaking attractive landscapes is taking the non-express passenger train that leaves every day to Dire Dawa, Ethiopia’s commercial city. As it moves slowly through zigzagging valleys and flatlands, your eyes would catch herds of camels and cattle grazing along the sides of the railways. This is an area where the traditional culture of Somali nomads still remains intact. As the century old passenger-train approaches into the Aware Afdam, a town that lies approximately between Addis Abeba and Dire Dawa for one hour stop, it is welcomed by an army of nomadic children waving their hands to the incoming travellers. The town has all characters that make Somalis different culturally from other Ethiopian ethnic groups. The charming young Somali girls selling fresh camel milk in leather containers on both sides of the railway and Somali nomads men displaying traditional handcrafts gives more colourful attraction to the relatively small market of this rural town. Men with pair of white togas and young men in their traditional dresses are frantically busy beckoning at travellers’ beck and call to sell locally made handcrafts and other souvenirs at a hand down price. Traditional Somali dagger is clearly visible on the hips of every grown up Somali man who reached at the age of manhood. The traditional dagger mounted on the hip is known as “Golxob”.But travellers should never try to tamper with Somali daggers. All shops are straddled on both sides of the railway where, everything that reflects Somali culture, from handcrafts to leather praying mats are displayed. The salivating goat meat assails one’s nostrils before he finds himself sitting in one of those small Somali restaurants. The ageing train that left Addis early morning ends up in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia’s commercial capital. Until 1960s, Dire Dawa was a predominantly Somalian inhabited city. But the growing commercial activities that attracted other Ethiopian ethnic groups have made a flourishing cosmopolitan city. It has been given a unique status of “autonomous city”, instead of a region, with equal footing to that of Addis, in line with Ethiopia’s Federal System, thus, losing its a century-old historical name of “Issa and Gurgura Province.”

Located midway between Addis Abeba and the tiny city-state of Djibouti at the Red Sea, Dire Dawa has become an important commercial centre since it was founded in 1902.The city expanded gradually when the railway from Djibouti reached the area. Its expansion has resulted largely from trade growth brought by the railroad. Dire Dawa lies in the east of the nation on the Dechatu River at the foot of a ring of cliffs that has been described as “somewhat like a cluster of tea-leaves” in the bottom of a slope-basin

Dire Dawa has become an important cosmopolitan city that handles almost the country’s export-and -import goods through the Djibouti port. Its industrial plants include processed meat, vegetable oil, textile and cement. Its main streets are festooned with bright colours of advertisement signs. Its shopping centres are full with shoppers who usually come from Addis Ababa and other provincial capitals to bring back essential goods to their respective regions. It said Ethiopia without Dire Dawa is not complete. The port state of tiny Djibouti, Ethiopia’s main gateway to the outside world, heavily depends for all its food supplies on Ethiopia which it imports through Dire Dawa. Dire Dawa (dirrir dhaba) is a Somali name which simply means “a place of fighting”.

Perhaps our sightseeing trip would be incomplete without visiting the ancient historical city of Harar.Without Harar’s rich agricultural hinterland in which almost variety of fruits, vegetables, coffee and other grains are grown both for local consumption and export, Dire Dawa would never have been Ethiopia’s second largest city. If Dire Dawa is regarded as the Ethiopia’s main artery for expert-and- import goods through the port of Djibouti, then, no doubt, Harar province is also the bread basket of the whole eastern Ethiopia. More than 50% of Ethiopia’s hard currency earning export goods come from these region .There is a clear cut economic interdependency between Dire Dawa and Harar. Their economy would be a synergy to facilitate the overall developments of the whole Ethiopian regions. The two cities are locked into a symbiotic economic relationship. Harar is the main supplier of essentially needed goods to Dire Dawa.

The journey to Harar from Dire Dawa is also perhaps the most fascinating one. Here, all kinds of public transport facilities’ are available, much depending on your own pocket - from luxurious taxis to heavy trucks. After all, Harar is not far away from Dire Dawa.It is only less than a two hour drive by bus. There is a around clock bus service between the two cities that stops at every way-station where passengers, either get off, or buy local products from vendors.

Maintained macadamized highway from Dire Dawa to Harar, provides a delightful journey with numerous panoramic views. As the carefully driven bus ascends on the sneaking Dangago pass, one’s eyes catches the beautiful evergreen mountains decorated with systematically planned terraces on which coffee and khat plants are grown. It reminds me that equally famous of Sheikh-Pass in Somaliland Republic.

The traveller, driving up the meandering road from the torrid lowlands to the cool Harar highlands, passes between mountain ranges divided by narrow valleys, punctuated with wonderful charming scenes. What a beautiful panoramic scenes: - sheer walls of naked rock, lofty slopes wooded to the summit with acacia, eucalyptus, and various types of cactus. The mountainsides are terraced for the cultivation of coffee or other crops. Emerging from the precipitous mountains to the broad level plateau, the road then proceeds through richly cultivated fields of maize, sorghum, and various other cereals. Finally, the bus stops at Lake Adale located on the summit of Dangago mountains .There are huge numbers of trucks at Adale hurriedly waiting for hundreds of tons of khat to be taken to Dire Dawa, where it is exported daily to Djibouti and Somaliland by air. It is in this district where the famous “Awday-khat” chewed by middle class businessmen is grown. The next main town where the bus stops is Alamaya town, at the bank of Lake Alamaya. Alamaya, once Ethiopia’s second largest lake is now shrinking to its bottom, because of the global climate change. It became the victim of global climate change. Excessive amount of water used for ever growing farming lands has also contributed to its dwindling water supply. Once, the lake that supplied the surrounding districts with fresh fish has turned out to be a small pond. The famous agricultural university is located on eastern bank of Lake Alamaya.

Now, we are in Harar; the city we heard about its past historical glory; a city of 90 mosques and minarets’; the city of saints and sheikhs who came from Arabia to spread Islam in east Africa. Harar is a splendid city in the real sense of the word: the natural beauty of its surrounding evergreen hills from which the endless streams and rivers that carry fertile soils into the lowland farming areas have their sources; its tall eucalyptus trees that cast long shadows over its labyrinthine streets; the white and blue doomed mosques rising high from the old part of the city; the high and wide gates that once defended the city from the invading enemies and the magnificent historical castles that gave Harar its sobriquet as the “Switzerland” of east Africa. The best way to visit the ancient walled party of the city that has five entrance gates symbolizing the five pillars of Islam is, by taking a horse drawn couch, provided one speaks Harari. The city combines the modern and the ancient quarters that is thought to be Ethiopia’s future tourist centre. To explore the historical artefacts of the city, it is advisable that one should see the old buildings in which the colourful wares are still displayed in some of the Hararian homes, the typical Hararian markets and the old museums of traditional Muslim arts. The Hararians are known for their sweeping hospitalities provided that one should speak the Harari, the language that I mastered while I was still a small boy.Harar is a city of peace. Both the local animals and Hararians enjoy the peace dividend. As night falls, both hyenas and the city’s peaceful residents walk together on the narrow alleyways, even sometimes exchanging greetings. Hand-feeding local hyenas are part of the tourist’s attraction. There is an old man who hand-feeds some 50 hyenas every night, treating them like kittens. The “heynaman” is considered as the main tourist attraction of Harar. He inherited the art of communicating with hyenas from his late father.

It goes without saying that Harar was named a UNESCO World Heritage site last year, joining some of the world’s top landmarks as the Grand Canyon in the United Sates, the Great Wall of China and the Acropolis in a Greece. The city is rich in history. It was the first Islamic state in Africa. The first European who set foot in Harar was Sir Richard Francis Burton (1553), the famous British explorer and the translator of “Arabian Nights” into English. He saw a flourishing Islamic city when it was ruled by Amir Nur, the grandson of Imam Ahmed Gurey, whose army reached the Sudan border before he was killed by Emperor Gladios. It had a trade relationship with Awdal kingdom whose capital city was Zeylac in Somaliland, another strong candidate for UNESCO’s World Heritage site.

On our way to Jigjiga, we would like to make a brief stopover at Babile, a town that lies 30Km east of Harar. There’s nothing much to see at Babile as tourists, except the tall natural rocks that lie on top of one another, similar to that of Britain’s ancient Darrington-Stonehenge and the natural mineral waterfalls. The Babilians believe that the natural waterfalls, now under the control of a bottling company in Harar, could cure people suffering from chronic rheumatism. Babile is located on a high ground overlooking the Erer river where, in the evening one could see the illuminating lights of Harar and Fanyaanbiira.It is a groundnut producing district where the Oromo speaking Madigan Somalis and the Nooles were living side-by-side in peace for centuries.Fanyaanbiira, whose residents are mainly the Toljacle and Eto of Oromo, marks the natural boundary between Somalis and their compatriot Islamic Oromo. It is a rich agricultural district known for its quality coffee and variety of grain production.

The other major Somali city that one should need to spend several days in acquainting with local people is Jijiga. Jijiga, the largest purely Somali inhabited city is situated on the foot of Mt.Karamarda, scene of heavy fighting between Somalia and Ethiopian forces in 1977, when the last Somalia’s fascist leader, General Barre invaded the whole eastern Ethiopia which consequently resulted in the immediate collapse of his clan based minority regime. Jigjiga has a unique history, in a sense that it was the place where the first Somali Youth League (SYL) took root in 1948, just before the whole Haud areas were annexed by Emperor Haile Selasse after signing an agreement with then British Protectorate Administration without the consent of Somalis.

Jigjiga has become an important commercial centre ever since Somaliland reasserted its sovereignty in 1991, by withdrawing from the union it entered with Somalia in 1960.Somaliland is an independent nation with recognised borders that it had inherited from the British Protectorate rule on June 26,1960, as the case is for all Africa Union member states. Jijiga’s fast economic development in a very short period of time is largely attributed to its booming trade relationship with Somaliland Republic. Next to Dire Dawa, Jigjiga has until recently become an important transit post for the Ethiopian export and import goods through the port of Berbera at the Red sea. Once, the abandon town of Togwajaale on the border between Somaliland and Ethiopia has now become “a little Hong Kong” in the region. More than 150 trucks carrying transit goods every day pass to and fro through the customs offices, thus, generating a huge amount of revenue for both governments. According to local economists, at least four million dollars change hands every day in Jigjiga.

Jijigans are reaping the fruits of peace in which their traditional leaders heavily invested. Credit goes to three former clan chiefs who laid groundwork for the peace and stability that the Jigjigans are enjoying to day. The three former chiefs, namely Barre Xaashi, Haaji Dool and Qowdhan Mohamud, had signed a peace agreement in the presence of other invited elders and religious leaders which, became since then, a point of references in solving local disputes through dialogue without the interventions of the government of the day. They agreed on an oral declaration of principals to which all clans fully accepted. Qawdhan Mohamoud was a man of vision who is still remembered by the old traditional leaders as a paragon of excellence. But the peace that has been preserved by such wise men of traditional leaders is now at risk of being disturbed by the ONLF.The ONLF’s bombing raid in a fully packed stadium in Jigjiga on May 28,2007, in which three middle school students were killed has raised an alarming bell in the whole region. Since then, authorities have introduced heightened security measures at all sensitive points.

Unless somebody is in a position to see the newly built modern boarding high school for boys and girls of nomadic background in Gaashamo sub-district, I would like to wrap up our sightseeing tour in this vast territory inhabited by majority of non-Ogadens. Gaashaamo, near the border of Somaliland, is a vast territory of thick forest known especially for its camel breeding. It is interesting that local nomads in Gaashamo joined forces by building such a modern high school for their children without outside financial help. The school admits boys and girls of any clan who can afford neglect able annual fees, equivalent to the cost of a she-camel. It is a pilot project that could serve as a model for the rest of nomadic community in the region. My next stop, which unfortunately has no connection with prospering cities in commerce and agricultural developments that we have seen during our short sightseeing visit, is Fiiq, a dilapidating poor town that rightly belongs to Ogaden clan.

I started my journey on 20August 2007.The aim of my journey was to bring back to Dire Dawa my stepmother who suddenly collapsed while visiting her ailing mother. I was accompanied in this trip by my stepmother’s brother who comes from one of dominant sub-clans of Maalinguur. Without his sponsorship, I could have not set a foot in Fiiq.Fiiq is a closed area to non-Ogadens.Finding a non-Ogaden in Fiiq is like finding a needle in a shack. In contrast with other non-Ogaden cities where everybody feels at home, Fiiq is an inhospitable hostile place for other Somalis.

Fiiq is located at the bank of a sandy riverbed .Its extremely a hot place. During the day time when the sun is overhead the reflection that comes from the hot sedimentary rocks hits back one’s face. It is a barren terrain that can not feed its people. A rough and bumpy road is guaranteed for those who want to embark on a trip to Fiiq. An army of knuckle-headed skinny and half naked children make their way to every car that arrives there, with assumption that the long awaited food distribution is ready. What a hustle and bustle to see helpless mothers yanking terribly emaciated children by the arms; and elderly women and old men grapple with gouty diseases in the conspicuous absence of medical treatment. So many faces! So many unsmiling and distressed human faces! There is a sense of despair and hopelessness among the ordinary Ogadenis. This is not a place where one can make a decent life. Prolonged droughts and clan based conflicts have decimated the livestock population that once sustained the livelihoods of the nomads who make up the present inhabitants of Fiiq and its surrounding rocky mountains. The unilaterally imposition of economic embargo by the other Somalis against the Ogadens has also contributed to the sufferings and hardships that the Ogadenis are facing to day.Fiiq is the heartland of ONLF.ONLF draws most of its guerrilla fighters from this region.

The majority of non-Ogaden Somalis in Zone-5 have taken a unanimous decision to severe all kinds of contacts, including trade links, with Ogadenis after about 50 lorries carrying commercial goods were blow-up by ONLF since 2005, because simply the owners of the trucks were Issaq-Ethiopian.The unilatateral imposition of trade embargo by the majority of Somali Ethiopian against all districts inhabited by Ogaden clan has totally isolated the ONLF and its supporters creating a new situation of uncertain future .Barre’s legacy and folly of ONLF leaders have isolated the Ogadens from the rest of their Somali compatriots in Ethiopia. In the Ogaden inhabited region, the use of brain and brawn is regarded as a taboo that should not be practised by men. The culture of receiving alms and handouts from international aid organisations has created a society that became allergic to work and good governance. Mayal Mahomud is one of the traditional leaders who acts as Fiiq town’s spokesman when it comes to conducting negotiating with other Somali clans.Mayal, in his late 70s, does not hide his hate against Issaqs in Somaliland and Hawiyes in Somalia for bringing down the government of Siad Barre that stood for the welfare of Darood people, regardless where they were. He also equally blamed the Darood Alliance for not fighting to the last drop of blood to keep Siad Barre in power.

Addressing me as a temporary hoghenhine (an alien), Mayal told me while pointing his fingers at me, that his son, who was the personal bodyguard of Col.Omer Mallin, the former chief of the navy in Berbera, still remains unaccounted for. As former Barre’s annuitant living in one of Hargeisa’s state owned houses, he vividly remembers how he used to gallivant all over the town in his expensive white safari suits. Intercalating his fingers and slightly stooping his head towards his half-barred knees, he breathed out his feelings, “Siad Barre was a God sent messiah who came to rescue the Darood people from the evil-doers.”

If praise and economuim would bring back someone to life, Siad Bare would have resuscitated himself as the president of Somalia. And if hate and curse would destroy people, there would have been not a single Issaq and Hawiye left on the earth. He needs no reminder that recarnating Barre again to life is a world away. While the conversation was in progress in his hut, I overheard a grimalkin swearing that he would cut me into two halves, had I uttered a word about his clan. Such nebbish and jejune remarks are common throughout Ogaden districts .One senses here a whiff of clanism.

It is beyond doubt that there is a sharp contrast between a prosperous and peace loving majority non-Ogadenis and the ONLF led Ogadenis living in a grinding poverty. It is no brain that the ONLF is accountable for the present agony and harsh sufferings that Ogadenis are facing. It has misled its own people with false promise that a government of Ogadenis, by the Ogadenis for the Ogadenis, would soon be in place in the” Ogadenian land” which other Somali Ethiopians have no stake at all, thus, following Barre’s footprints where, a minority clan ruled the whole Somalia through the barrel of a gun.

Lack of traditional leadership, who might possess sufficient will-power to enter peace dialogue with other majority Somalis, is another factor that brought the Ogadenis to all sorts of inhuman sufferings. There is also another group who had become a disservice to their nation. The sons of former ministers and army generals in Barre’s government, who made their way to Europe and USA retaining the ill-gotten gains without redress or contrition, have left their own Ogadeni society in the lurch. The group, which make up the backbone of recently formed Siadist Organisation, is heavily engaged in war of attrition against the Republic of Somaliland whose, success story as a democratic state and its excellent relationship with Ethiopia has become an exemplary for the rest of states in the horn of Africa.

After all, Ogadenis are Somalis; but all Somalis are not Ogadenis.With total obliviousness to the reality on the ground, the Ogadenis have embarked on a campaign of preparedness for conflicts with other Somalis. It is unfortunate that the navy admiral, who has the blood of innocent civilians on his hand, is holding the reign of ONLF, a terrorist organisation that has created anarchy in eastern Ethiopia, through orgy of violence. Admiral Mohamed Omer was the heart of everything that Barre has done against the people of Somaliland; first in his capacity as chief of the navy, and secondly as the head of mobilization bureau of the defunct Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party. At the behest of Admiral Mohamed Omer, Col. Omer Mualin (Ogaden), the then commandant of the navy in the city port of Berbera was responsible for the massacre of five thousand Issaq civilians in 1988 in Berbera slaughtering them with long knives. The news of the Berbera’s massacre had sent shock waves throughout the world with outright condemnation of all human rights’ organisations which prompted the cutting of economic assistances to Barre’s government by USA and Europe. His blood print is in Berbera. The Admiral was one of the prime architects in mobilizing the Ogaden refugees to massacre the fleeing Hargeisans. He believes in what he calls “Barre’s mythical aura.” The man who engineered the Ogaden’s military campaign against the innocent civilians in Hargeisa is now shedding crocodile tears. The Admiral’s personal campaign to form a unilateral government of Ogadens, solely run by the ONLF with an Ogadenian flag and an Ogadenian national anthem in eastern Ethiopia is like building a castle in the air. It is a daydream that would never come true. Instead, he strengthened the hands of non-Ogadens who are united to stand firmly against the ONLF at all costs. This is an area where history is repeating itself.

I am not in a position to drive a wedge between the Ogadens and the majority of Somali Ethiopians. The Ogadenis, like every other society in the world, have every right for peace and decent life – the right to live in peace and security that they desire so much. But they must disassociate themselves from ONLF, a terrorist organisation that brought to them all kinds of misery and woes. Herein lays the problem. They have to make a deceive choice: a choice between ONLF and the rest of the majority non-Ogaden Somalis. The Ogadenis, whose life is intertwined with cumulative effect of long years of droughts and conflicts, need badly to reconcile with rest of Somali Ethiopians. Speaking in one voice is in the interest of all Somali Ethiopians. The ball is now in the courts of the Ogaden. No more red herring; nothing could be further from the truth.

Hoping that logic will prevail in the regions inhabited by the Ogadenian, it’s now time to hang up my sword.

By Ismail Ahmed
Dire Dawa,Ethiopia
Xarshin22@hotmail.com