Ethiopia: OHRC & ONLF - lessons on how to invent a U.N. genocide

Gemeda Humnasa

The Ogaden Human Rights Committee (OHRC) has been attempting to benefit and acquire legitimacy in the fiasco of the Ogaden, Ethiopia during the last few months. For most of the intelligence community, the OHRC is a representative of yet another African militant/separatist group called ONLF, in this unstable region of Africa. Especially in the ONLF’s attempt to protect what Chicago Tribune called “imaginary Oil,” the escalating human rights abuses perpetrated by both the Ethiopian government forces and the ONLF rebels has made the OHRC loyalty to ONLF more clear than ever before. Despite the terrorist acts of the ONLF separatist rebels, the human rights organization covering the region named OHRC has made no condemnations and allegations against the ONLF. So far it has not made any citations of ONLF’s terrorist acts, which ultimately compels outsiders to wonder if there is any difference between the ONLF & the OHRC.
For the Reuters, the OHRC not saying anything about the ONLF terrorist acts might have gave it away. In its latest report citing the OHRC, Reuters didn’t find it awkward to tag OHRC as a human right organization “which calls itself independent.” Any Reuters’ reporter doesn’t need to research too much to conclude this since several of its own past reports always detailed the terrorist acts done by the ONLF. So, how deeply and how long has the OHRC been the mouthpiece of the ONLF terrorists appears like the most legitimate and the next question to ask.
Fundamentally, the OHRC summarization of the Somali-Ethiopian region’s history is identical to that of the ONLF’s. In fact, with the exception of opening dates of the account, the OHRC presents the same propaganda and the same partisan conclusions as the ONLF terrorist organization. Both ONLF and OHRC venerate the “independence of the Ogaden” and see the region as being under “Ethiopian occupation” thus needing “liberation” & separation. The OHRC went as far as saying deeply political statements like, “Historically, Somali people in the Ogaden have never accepted the ‘Ethiopian occupation’ of their country.” Indeed, as of August 16, OHRC’s own website says the Ogaden Human Rights Committee is an organisation "founded on 13 June 1995, in Godey, Ogadenia.” (Emphasis added) However as of August 16 (and probably for a while) there is no region, no country in this world called “Ogadenia” except in the aspirations of the ONLF guerilla fighters. Let alone the country of Ogadenia” (which was once a provincial conspiracy instigated by WSLF, ONLF along with the famous “Greater Somalia” ideology) the whole notion of a Somalia country itself was created less than five decades ago by its founding father & 1960s President Aden Abdullah Osman. In general, the OHRC which tries to appear like a human rights organization for people residing in Ethiopia remains vastly different from what it claims it is. Other common political statements of this OHRC human rights organization include recommendations that demand the international community to “guarantee” a “referendum” for the secession of Ogadenia region from Ethiopia and OHRC’s formal condemnation of Ethiopia’s assistance to the Somalia transitional government as an “illegal occupation of Somalia.” Also mixed political and ethnically motivated statements given by the OHRC include demeaning non-Ogadeni Ethiopian citizens living in the local area as “settlers” or “Amhara settlers” and “Tigrean settlers.”
Sometimes this Human Rights organization has been quite unique in its support for the ONLF terrorist group. When the ONLF terrorist group kidnapped a French water engineer named Mr. Eric Courly seven years ago, the OHRC staff claimed the Frenchman was "captured” and the OHRC followed this by asking the ONLF terrorists to “drop all charges against” the kidnapped Mr. Eric Courly. Even though the OHRC asking the ONLF terrorists to drop the “charges” against a hostage emerged as silly as an Al-Qaeda member asking another Al-Qaeda member to drop the charges against a hostage awaiting a beheading, the OHRC seemed quite genuine and serious in its declaration. Such extraordinary OHRC statements might appear like a slip-up by the Ogadeni staff, however not only has such comments been very common but they are systematic and deeply rooted.
More evidence seems to show that the OHRC is not different from ONLF. After its arm wing, ONLF, massacred 74 people and the Ethiopian government then started a crackdown, OHRC became the main ambassador of the terrorist organization by justifying the pursuing bloodbath, never condemning it and even calling it a "retaliation." In fact, the purpose of the following ONLF-Ethiopia govt clash was not simply a military one for the OHRC/ONLF alliance but mainly a Human Rights game. Despite a big fraction of the Ethiopian troops being in Mogadishu, the ONLF knew that the Meles Zenawi government is not going to sacrifice its survival for the sake of the TFG. However, due to the Ethiopian military not being in its full strength, it meant an ugly battle that would make the well being of local civilians harder to safeguard for the government and easier to manipulate for the rebels. Which, in the end, explained the reason why the likes of the OHRC, CDRA, & other Ogadeni financed groups and ONLF supporters attempted to publicize themselves to western human rights organizations & institutions rapidly. (Note: The Centre for Development research and advocacy (CDRA), led by Farah A Farah, has gradually indicated its openly pro-ONLF political stance leaving no room to guess and demanding no rationale to be analyzed & scrutinized like the OHRC)
In the following weeks, when the ICRC was told to leave the region after the government accused some of its local staff of meeting the ONLF rebels, the OHRC boldly & loudly condemned the Ethiopia government for kicking out a humanitarian organization. But it was not too long ago that the ONLF itself kicked out humanitarian organizations like the Action Against Hunger, an organization that works in more than 30 countries around the world. Ironically, the OHRC defended the acts of the ONLF terrorists back then, by saying, “The Ogaden Human Rights Committee calls upon all humanitarian organizations in the Ogaden to refrain from any activity, which is not related to their work and confine themselves only to their humanitarian work.” Accordingly, it appeared like when the ONLF needs it, OHRC will pretend like a Human rights organizations, and when ONLF needs it, the OHRC will pretend like a detective correcting disobedient humanitarian organizations.
The Ogaden Human Rights Committee (OHRC) certainly might continue to pretend like a human rights organization as long as there are more people not willing to check its background. Since it is an organization claiming to serve a group of people in the African continent, where most governments (if criticized/condemned) are automatically perceived as tyrannies, most likely there will be a lot of western people not willing to bother checking the background of the OHRC. Particularly, there has been a tendency to support any human rights organization in Africa as long as it has that label on it.
The OHRC does not seem to be just the ambassador of the ONLF standing against the ethnically non-Somali Ethiopians, but it is also against other Somali sub-clans & clans in the region. In fact, the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) has long been accused of imposing its hegemony over the other Somali clans in this region of Ethiopia. Delegation of Ogaden clan elders also traveled as far as the United Kingdom, Sweden and other European nations to persuade the ONLF leadership to change its violent ways, to negotiate and to create peace – all unsuccessfully. According to various Somali media sources, the ONLF has rejected and insulted even local elders from its own Somali clan and sub-clans who tried to persuade it to choose a peaceful path. Thus ONLF has shown that it is a destabilizing and terrorizing force both against ethnic Somali-Ethiopians and others in Ethiopia, a country of around 80 different ethnicities. All of this has materialized with the staunch backing of the OHRC. The list of some of the terrorist acts committed by the ONLF includes:

• Assassinating federal government officials

• Planted bombs near railroads

• Assassinated local Ogadeni & other regional Somali officials

• Killed local elders opposed to its policies

• Injured numerous local civilians including innocent bystanders like Mr. Riish Omar Olad

• Kidnapped foreign workers and humanitarian organization staff

• Bomb attacks in Addis Ababa

• Assassinate apolitical local Somali businessmen & demolish development projects

• Tribal carnage in Somaliland, a semi-autonomous region east of Ethiopia.

• Attacks in markets and Church.

• Recent massacre of dozens of Ethiopian workers at an Oil facility

• Killing mourners at funerals of previous ONLF victims


• Executed a 3 yrs old child at this same Abole area

• Massacred Chinese technicians at an Oil exploration site

• Bombings at the Jijiga stadium that resulted in injuries & deaths, including that of children
In general, the OHRC will be at the forefront of the diplomatic work for the ONLF terrorist organization, especially since it can be disguised as an impartial entity for western apolitical Human Rights analysts. Before it wore its current mask, as once envisioned and described by members of its founders, the main goal of the OHRC is said to be to “assist the ONLF’s military effort by attaining UN recognition of an imminent human rights crisis that obliges a UN urgent intervention & Ogadenia’s ultimate liberation.” (Translated from Somali)
Thus it is in the nature of the OHRC to remain very aggressive in its anti-government activities, diplomatic work or public relations until the Ogaden region is violently separated and a new independent “Ogadenia” country is carved up even if would lead to:

1. Breaking international laws and UN charter

2. Disregarding Ethiopian territorial integrity

3. Disregarding cultural, linguistic and historical connections of the local ethnicity/clan vis-à-vis 79 other ethnicities in Ethiopia.

4. Disregarding the existence of non-Ogaden Somali clan population in the borders claimed by ONLF, thus setting grounds for endless clan wars.

5. Severely impeding development work and keeping the Somali regional state the most underdeveloped section inside Ethiopia.

6. Allying with other armed movements which, as noted by the UN, are trained by the Eritrean government

7. Shedding the blood of hundreds, if not thousands, of recruits and innocent local youth.
After all, the majority of the OHRC staff is famously known by the locals for financing the ONLF terrorist activities, assassinations, ambushes and massacres on one side while playing the human rights game on the other side. Thus the OHRC appears to be just like the ONLF; an organization that is claiming to fight for the “liberation” of the “Ogadeni people” from an imaginary colonial entity and for the “liberation” of an ambiguous land – with its varying borders disputed by local clans, and by the rest of Ethiopian populations & larger ethnicities – which are all basic ingredients that fuel a cycle of unending wars. In other words, the boundaries are much more disputed than the Eritrea-Ethiopia boundaries which have already led to a catastrophic war in 1998-2000. In general, the OHRC is, essentially, the ONLF itself – or more specifically, a “selectively humane” branch of the ONLF terrorist organization. Currently, after the successful crackdown on the ONLF terrorists, the Ethiopian government seems to try developing this arid region and utilizing its projected energy resources. However, since any economic development means there will be fewer recruits for the ONLF rebels, this terrorist organization will do its best to massacre as many people & as many investors as possible. ONLF will not allow any economic development because such development will not only reduce its conscripts but it will also make its radical objectives less desirable since it wouldn’t make sense, even economically, to wage a violent “liberation” in an age of globalization (particularly the concept of “liberating” an infertile land segment from a fertile whole). Throughout this ONLF campaign, OHRC seems dedicated to be by its side watching & almost sanctioning the massacres. One of the most political human rights organizations, OHRC, already undermining international values & the independence expected of any human rights organization, appears to unfortunately continue to harm the same local Ogadeni-Ethiopians which its ONLF partner continues to massacre. No matter, even if the chaos and the battles of the last few months haven’t successfully manufactured another Darfur in the making in east Ethiopia yet, with more campaign and hard work it can get there. However, before it gets to the UN, the OHRC/ONLF will need to go thru a few important steps. So far it has made it up to level five and might have gotten somewhat stuck there.

General stages to invent a genocide accusation, using the insurgency and Human Rights technique:-


1. Get the support of non-Ogadeni Ethiopian dissidents

2. Local paper, media attention

3. Gain legitimacy in the West/ indicate civilian support/organize forums

4. Attain Caucasian devotees/sympathizers/intellectuals/debates

5. Famous newspapers/BBC/AP/Reuters/New York Times etc

6. Humanitarian agencies/HRW/top level western politicians

7. United Nations/UNHR

Still, the current OHRC/ONLF attempt can move forward. A couple of massacres will need to be carried out by the ONLF and it can do so with impunity. First and foremost, the ONLF terrorist organization is a terrorist organization fighting against Africans so it will be seen as some type of a "rebel with a cause" by westerners. And the HRW, the UN, money and all power is controlled by the West. Secondly and more importantly, the ONLF can use the selective amnesia technique that often works for Africa. For example, after massacring, the ONLF can just say that it is massacring Ethiopian people in retaliation for the Ethiopian government's crime of blocking food aid, even though those same exact allegations were later contradicted by the United Nations who said there was no government food blockage at all. After such an ONLF attack, a follow up second round match with the Ethiopian military might be enough to give OHRC/ONLF a victory – which is a UN recognized genocide in the Ogaden. The other important tools in this human rights game are quality & quantity of pro-ONLF witnesses moving near or out of the Ethiopian border. This means how many pro-ONLF refugee witnesses the OHRC/ONLF can provide to the HRW/others and also how much pro-ONLF local refugees fleeing the battle scene can used to mislead the HRW & others into believing their accounts of an Ethiopian army brutality. This Human Rights Olympics, if done properly, can certainly give a boost to the OHRC/ONLF and to their ultimate objectives for separating “Ogadenia” from Ethiopia.