08/03/09 (B489) Ethiopie : les accrochages violents se multiplient en Ogaden entre milices de l’ONLF et soldats éthiopiens. (2 articles en Anglais)

_________________________ 2 – Shabelle (En Anglais)


De violents combats entre les membres de l’ONLF et les soldats éthiopiens ont causé la mort de 25 personnes. 15 autres sont blessées. // Fighting kills more people in Ethiopia

Heavy fighting between rebels and Ethiopian soldiers killed 25 people and injured 15 others Saturday in Mustahil town in eastern Ethiopia, Shabelle’s Omar Kiyow reported from Baladweyn town near the border.

Our reporter, citing residents said the fighting started after anti- Ethiopian Somali rebels attacked a convoy of Ethiopian troops who were traveling from Wardher town to the border between Somalia and Ethiopia.

Independent sources from the region say sporadic fighting is continuing in the region and a lot of people who fled from the fighting areas reached in central Somali towns.

No group has claimed the responsibility of the fighting yet.

ONLF, which is fighting for the independence of ethnic Somalis in Ethiopia’s oil-rich Ogaden region, claimed yesterday they killed about 24 Ethiopian troops.

They say the local people have been marginalized by Addis Ababa

In June, New York-based Human Rights Watch accused the Ethiopian government of burning villages, executing civilians and raping women in an effort to quell the ONLF’s insurgency. Ethiopia denied the allegations.

By Ahmednor Mohamed Farah

_________________________ 1 – Shabelle (En Anglais)

Depuis le Qatar où il réside, le porte-parole de l’OLNF (résistance de l’Ogaden) crie victoire après des combats contre l’Armée éthiopienne dans la ville de Mustahil. // ONLF claims victory over fighting in Ethiopia (Info lecteur)

Hussein Nor, a head of the information affairs of ONLF rebels has claimed victory on Sunday in the fighting between ONLF rebels and Ethiopian troops in Mustahil town in the regional administration of Somalia in Ethiopia.

The spokesman who in Qatar told Shabelle radio that they had killed in the fighting 20-30 Ethiopian soldiers and burnt many trucks from the Ethiopian soldiers saying that there were some casualties their side including civilians but said that he could not confirm the real number.

Mr. Hussein Nor said that the Ethiopian soldiers from Somalia who were in the border between Somalia and Ethiopia attacked their forces saying that they resisted and inflicted more casualties adding that they were ready for any attack from the Ethiopian soldiers.

There are tense situations in the area of the fighting and no comment came out from Ethiopia yet.

The victory claiming of head of the information of ONLF rebels Mr. Hussein Nor comes as there has been bitter fighting between ONLF rebels and the Ethiopian troops in the recent days in the regional state of Somalia in Ethiopia that caused number casualties of deaths, wounds and lost properties.