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Ogaden Communities' Letter to British Premier Brown

[ Posted On: 2007-10-19 ]

It is with great concern for the deterioration of the Human Rights' condition in Ogaden that the Ogaden Communities in Europe sent a Letter to the Rt Hon Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, last week.

The British Premier is known to have repeatedly studied the folder 'Africa', and came up with substantial proposals for progress and development in the Black Continent. Critical for political semiotics is the British premier's own choice to appear – in his Biography web page – talking to a young Black child, in the official governmental website (http://www.number10.gov.uk/output/page12037.asp). Anti-Racism and Anti-Poverty have long been well known topics, and fields of particular interest for Gordon Brown.

One has reason to expect a definite reconsideration of the British Horn of Africa policy; it has become clear that the colonial fabrication of 'Ethiopia' cannot prolong its insane and nefarious life but by means of unspeakable Humanitarian Dramas, colonial settlements, enforced land expropriation, appalling oppression practices, massacres, extrajudicial killings, ethnic cleansing, and an array of inhuman racist and discriminatory policies against the existence of the cultures, the religions, the languages, and the socio-behavioural systems of the subjugated nations that the totalitarian Amhara – Tigray elites do not even recognize as such.

To clearly demonstrate a humane face, and gain to his cause a great number of African nations, Gordon Brown must deliver – in Ogaden. The area has already reached the very early stage of the Darfur tragedy; with the striking difference that in Ogaden it's not the nebulous paramilitary forces but the army and the gendarmerie, the colonial 'Ethiopian' state itself that stands accused.

Gordon Brown's success hinges on an early, convincing demonstration of the truth of his political purpose and discourse. UN mandate for Ogaden will be a full proof of trustful and frank commitment; preventing in Ogaden what was not averted in Darfur will be a great success for the African policy of Britain. And the correct timing for immediate action is now.

We publish here integrally the Letter sent to the British Premier by the Ogaden Communities in Europe; it is a historical document of great value. If carefully studied and attentively understood, this Letter can prevent another Genocide in Africa.

Ogaden Communities' Letter to British Premier Brown

The Rt Hon Gordon Brown
British Prime Minister
10 Downing Street
SW1A 2AA
London, United Kingdom

Neuchâtel le, 12.10.2007

Your Excellency,

We the Ogaden Communities in Europe like to express our deep concern and apprehension about the gross human rights violations which are taking place in our homeland, which is under Ethiopian military occupation.

Injustices and human rights abuses inflicted upon the Somali people in the Ogaden date back to the Ethiopian occupation of the last part of the Ogaden in 1955.

Successive Ethiopian governments, including the current EPRDF/TPLF government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, violate the basic human rights of the Somali people in the Ogaden repeatedly and persistently. The Somalis are considered and treated as aliens in their own country.

On May 10th 1994, the Regional Assembly in the Ogaden passed a unanimous resolution in accordance with the Transitional Charter and the Ethiopian Constitution, demanding a referendum on self-determination and independence for the Ogaden people, under the auspices of international and regional bodies such as United Nations, Organization of African Unity, European Union, and other independent non-governmental organizations.

But the Ethiopian government in Addis Ababa reacted swiftly and severely by overthrowing and virtually disbanding all democratically elected national institutions in the Ogaden, including the Regional Parliament.

Since then the Ogaden has been a virtually closed military zone, where bloody battles were being fought between Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) forces and combatants of The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF).

In the Ogaden, summary executions, torture of detainees to death, gang raping of women, child molestation, arbitrary detentions without charge or trial, looting and illegal confiscation of properties are commonplace, and are daily practiced by Ethiopian armed and security forces with impunity. In order to eliminate the credible eye witness, the Ethiopian regime expelled from Ogaden, the Medecins sans Frontiers and the International Committee of the Red Cross, the rare NGOs who have been working in Ogaden.

As a part of the Ethiopian government's policy of starving out the civilian population in the Ogaden, its army has imposed an economic blockade on many towns and villages in the region. This blockade has caused an enormous human suffering. The most affected areas by the military siege are: the regions of Dhagaxbuur, Fiiq, Qabridaharre, Wardheer, Godey, Afdheer and some parts of Jigjiga, where many villages were depopulated and razed to the ground by the government troops. More then six hundred thousand people are displaced in Ogaden with out getting any aid.

The United Nations fact finding mission who visited the Ogaden between 30 August and 5 September this year, received reports of serious violations of human rights abuses, and recommended an independent United Nations fact finding mission to be sent to Ogaden.

Your Excellency, we request you kindly that the British government to:

Refrain from aiding and supporting the Ethiopian regime as long as it violates human rights and fundamental freedoms of the Somali people in the Ogaden.

Put a pressure on the Ethiopian regime to allow all humanitarian and relief organisations to operate immediately and freely in the Ogaden as well as international and local human rights organisations and the international press.

Assist the displaced in the Ogaden generously and directly through international NGOs in order to assure the reach of the food aid to the victims of the famine.

Help Ogaden Somali people to get their rights, including the right of the self determination accordingly to the Ethiopian constitution.

We are hopeful that our request will get your full attention and consideration
Thank you very much in advance

Yours sincerely,

Ogaden Community in Europe
C.P 2064
2000 Neuchâtel
Switzerland
Email: communauteogaden@net2000.ch

Article Source: http://www.afroarticles.com/article-dashboard

About The Author: Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis - is Orientalist, Assyriologist, Egyptologist, Iranologist, Islamologist, Historian and Political Scientist. Dr. Megalommatis, 49, is the author of 12 books, dozens of scholarly articles, hundreds of encyclopedia entries, and thousands of articles. He speaks, reads and writes more than 15, modern and ancient, languages.

| View Profile & All Articles By: Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis |

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