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From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Fri Jan 21 2011 - 11:57:50 EST
Rebels accuse Ethiopian army of ethnic cleansing
Fri Jan 21, 2011 1:00pm GMT
* Ethiopia rejects allegations, says army not involved
* Rebels say army controls aid in Ogaden region
By Aaron Maasho
ADDIS ABABA, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Government troops have executed civilians
and conducted ethnic cleansing in Ethiopia's Somali Region, a rebel group
said on Friday.
The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) said the bodies of a civil
servant and a businessman were found dead in Kebridehar in eastern Ethiopia
on Jan. 17, a day after they and 17 other people were rounded up by security
officials.
The government rejected the allegations.
Government spokesman Shimelis Kemal told Reuters a small gunfight had
erupted between local police and ONLF fighters in Kebridehar on Jan. 10
after ONLF members killed a civilian.
"The Ethiopian army was not even involved, and this cannot be considered as
ethnic cleansing. It was a measure taken by police against terrorist
activities," Shimelis said.
The ONLF said in a statement "Wires that were used to asphyxiate the victims
were left wrapped around their necks for further terrifying the town's
people."
The fate of the rest of the group was unknown, it added.
The ONLF is fighting for independence for the ethnic Somali-dominated Ogaden
province. Ethiopia believes the Ogaden basin may contain 4 trillion cubic
feet of gas reserves and major oil deposits, drawing interest from foreign
firms.
The rebels said that in a second incident, government troops had beheaded a
woman and injured 27 people while looting the town of Higlalay.
"Since it is at the height of the dry season and both water and food are
scarce, there is an urgent need of humanitarian aid for the victims, but the
same army that is committing these crimes controls aid," the ONLF statement
said.
It is not the first time the ONLF has accused government troops of
atrocities in the region. It said in November last year that soldiers had
tortured hundreds of civilians who had been displaced from their homes.
The allegations are impossible to verify because journalists and aid groups
cannot move unhindered in the area.
Ethiopia signed a peace deal in October with one faction of the ONLF, though
another faction called the deal "irrelevant". The faction with which Addis
Ababa sealed the accord says it represents 80 percent of ONLF fighters.
(Editing by Richard Lough and Tim Pearce)
C Thomson Reuters 2011 All rights reserved
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