BY MICHAEL M. CROW
THE MODERN UNIVERSITY is the ideal environment for the creation and transfer of knowledge that drives national competitiveness in an increasingly global era. Its most effective from is the American adaptation of the European model, in which teaching, learning and research are integrated into a single institution. Indeed, the American university has proved capable of almost anything, from developing advanced economic theories to creating new life forms. And that’s in addition to providing, basic liberal-arts training to millions of people who drive the arts around the world.
From the European Union to China, India to Mexico, many national leaders understand that the university is the critical catalyst for America’s adaptability, economic robustness and emergence as a great power. And they are moving aggressively to catch up. In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy is outlining a total overhaul of the country’s underperforming university system. In India, a private citizen is building a university for 1000,000 students, while China is building or revamping hundreds of institutions. And the universities created by emerging economies beginning in the 1990s and through 2020 will likely play a decisive role in re-shaping the global balance of economic power.
That is bad news for the United States. The past two decades of American university development have been characterized largely by self-satisfaction arising from steady progress by the top 20 or so research universities. And America as a nation has been coasting. Since 2000, the United States has lost its edge in the graduation of engineers and technologists. The country no longer dominates scientific discovery, innovation or exploration. Most important, the United States has not launched any effort to build new institutions to accommodate its increasingly diverse population of more than 300 million.
The result is that America’s university system, despite its historical pre-eminence, has ceased to grow. Few new universities are being built, and only a handful of those in existence are undergoing meaningful expansion. Fur-thermore, America’s university system has failed to adapt to the dramatic demographic and immigration.
America needs to realize that its universities face real competition from the rest of the world to attract the best and the brightest, to secure resources and to provide environments that educate and inspire. This is not to say that the best American universities are no longer the leaders in discovery and innovation. They are. Rather, it is to say that the success of the higher-education system must be measured by more than just innovations. Its long-term performance depends on its ability to provide learning to a broad cross sections of citizens, to advance national proficiency in math and science and to create an adaptable work force, as well as well as to develop a national appreciation for discovery, entrepreneurship and the creative process.
In China and elsewhere, these are the goals of the new universities being built. In the United States, we need to move from a national self-confidence based on past success to one built on the knowledge that we are advancing a system of higher education that will meet our future needs. This will require that policymakers, business leaders and universities rededicate themselves to creating comprehensive learning and discovery environments; design entirely new models and methods for teaching, and then take action to implement them. It is imperative that we get started now.
Houston's newest (and oldest) visitor attracts about 1,000
By MELANIE MARKLEY
Houston Chronicle
Lucy's premiere drew about 1,000 visitors to the Houston Museum of Natural Science on Friday, and officials expect record crowds will visit the world-famous fossil during the holiday weekend.
Brad Levy, director of customer service, estimated that 12,000 to 14,000 people will see the exhibit today through Monday. He said advance sales for the opening weekend already are 25 percent higher than they were for the museum's last blockbuster, Body Worlds, which went on display in February 2006.
The early response to Lucy's Legacy: The Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia has been very positive, he said.
"What people are saying is that they are appreciative that the Ethiopian people are sharing this exhibit with them," he said.
Lucy's visit to Houston has had its share of controversy. Famed fossil hunter Richard Leakey accused the museum of "gross exploitation of the ancestors of humanity" while others feared that the trip from Ethiopia to Houston could damage the fossil.
But Lucy is drawing interest from everywhere. After a national news report about the exhibition Thursday night, Levy said that 500 people from all parts of the country called to buy advance tickets.
Museumgoers said Friday they were impressed with the exhibition, which also includes information about the history and culture of Ethiopia.
Tracie Moreno said she and her father had been waiting a long time to see the display. When her 2-year-old daughter, Jasmine, looked at the life-size replica of Lucy and signed the word "monkey," her mother just laughed.
"She can't say 'Australopithicus' yet," said Moreno, referring to Lucy's scientific name.
Her father, Harry Windham, was taking his time studying the displays and reading the detailed explanations that were posted along the way. Windham, who is retired, said he had been to Africa but never Ethiopia.
"I didn't know much about the life and times of Ethiopia," he said. "I'm impressed with that. I think it will be good for Ethiopia."
In the room with Lucy's bones, Chris Fogarty studied the diorama depicting what life had been like when Lucy was alive roughly 3.2 million years ago. He had come to the museum with his daughter and her fiancé, and he wasn't leaving disappointed.
"Ethiopia, I found, is a fascinating country," he said. "I didn't realize the cultural diversity there and the religious tolerance."
And Lucy?
"I didn't realize she was so short."
melanie.markley@chron.com
Houston Chronicle
Lucy's premiere drew about 1,000 visitors to the Houston Museum of Natural Science on Friday, and officials expect record crowds will visit the world-famous fossil during the holiday weekend.
Brad Levy, director of customer service, estimated that 12,000 to 14,000 people will see the exhibit today through Monday. He said advance sales for the opening weekend already are 25 percent higher than they were for the museum's last blockbuster, Body Worlds, which went on display in February 2006.
The early response to Lucy's Legacy: The Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia has been very positive, he said.
"What people are saying is that they are appreciative that the Ethiopian people are sharing this exhibit with them," he said.
Lucy's visit to Houston has had its share of controversy. Famed fossil hunter Richard Leakey accused the museum of "gross exploitation of the ancestors of humanity" while others feared that the trip from Ethiopia to Houston could damage the fossil.
But Lucy is drawing interest from everywhere. After a national news report about the exhibition Thursday night, Levy said that 500 people from all parts of the country called to buy advance tickets.
Museumgoers said Friday they were impressed with the exhibition, which also includes information about the history and culture of Ethiopia.
Tracie Moreno said she and her father had been waiting a long time to see the display. When her 2-year-old daughter, Jasmine, looked at the life-size replica of Lucy and signed the word "monkey," her mother just laughed.
"She can't say 'Australopithicus' yet," said Moreno, referring to Lucy's scientific name.
Her father, Harry Windham, was taking his time studying the displays and reading the detailed explanations that were posted along the way. Windham, who is retired, said he had been to Africa but never Ethiopia.
"I didn't know much about the life and times of Ethiopia," he said. "I'm impressed with that. I think it will be good for Ethiopia."
In the room with Lucy's bones, Chris Fogarty studied the diorama depicting what life had been like when Lucy was alive roughly 3.2 million years ago. He had come to the museum with his daughter and her fiancé, and he wasn't leaving disappointed.
"Ethiopia, I found, is a fascinating country," he said. "I didn't realize the cultural diversity there and the religious tolerance."
And Lucy?
"I didn't realize she was so short."
melanie.markley@chron.com
Chicago scraps city Wi-Fi plan
CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- An ambitious plan to blanket the city with wireless broadband Internet will be shelved because it is too costly and too few residents would use it, Chicago officials said Tuesday.
Chicago officials say they won't go ahead with plan to blanket the 228 square mile city with wireless Internet.
"We realized -- after much consideration -- that we needed to reevaluate our approach to provide universal and affordable access to high speed Internet as part of the city's broader digital inclusion efforts," Chicago's chief information officer, Hardik Bhatt, said in a statement.
The plan to blanket Chicago's 228 square miles with wireless Internet access was announced early last year when Chicago leaders said they hoped to become one of the largest cities to offer all-over access to the Web.
Instead, the city said its negotiations with private-sector partners, including EarthLink Inc., have stalled because any citywide Wi-Fi would require massive public financing. The city had hoped to provide only infrastructure for the network.
Tuesday's announcement makes Chicago the latest in a string of municipalities to encounter troubles with their municipal broadband initiatives because of ballooning budgets and dwindling usage that's led to scant revenue generated by the projects. About 175 U.S. cities or regions have citywide or partial systems.
"But given the rapid pace of changing technology, in just two short years, the marketplace has altered significantly," Bhatt said.
Atlanta-based EarthLink, which had been negotiating with Chicago about the municipalnetwork, has said it was studying the performance of its existing municipal wireless Internet networks before deciding how to move forward with similar networks elsewhere.
"We're seeing this evolve as we learn more about these networks, and the city needs to think about this again from its own business perspective," Tom Hulsebosch, a vice president of EarthLink's municipal sales, told the Chicago Tribune.
Meanwhile, Chicago will be among the first three cities nationwide to have access to a new high-speed wireless network that's part of an emerging technology called WiMax.
Sprint Nextel Corp. announced plans this spring to offer wireless Internet speeds that match DSL and cable TV modems.
WiMax is derived from the same technology as Wi-Fi. Unlike Wi-Fi, which provides wireless Internet access over a several-hundred-foot range, a WiMax signal can blanket a much wider area.
Mobiles to become digital wallets
Soon you could be paying for parking with a handset
The UK's big five mobile phone firms have switched on a payment system that turns handsets into digital wallets.
Called PayForIt, the scheme is designed for those buying goods and services with a value of up to £10.
The industry hopes it will be used to pay for ringtones, train tickets, parking fees and eventually as a payment system on web shops and sites.
Any cash spent via the scheme will automatically be added on to a customer's phone bill.
The scheme standardises the way phones can be used to make payments so the process is the same no matter which operator a customer has signed up for or which handset they are using.
Mike Short, chairman of the Mobile Data Association, said PayForIt had been developed as an alternative to other systems such as premium rate SMS.
Many people, said Mr Short, were unhappy using that payment system because of past uncertainty about how much they would pay and who they turn to if things go wrong.
"It's for those customers who have not felt comfortable with mobile transactions or payments," he said.
Trust in mobile payments would be boosted, said Mr Short because shoppers will know who they are buying from and what they are spending.
Anyone paying for goods with PayForIt will see an information screen that lays out what they have bought, who it has been bought from and how much it will cost.
"It's about opening up the micro payment choices," said Mr Short, "but it's not a total cash replacement."
PayForIt will appear as a payment option on sites that people can get to via their handset and soon will also appear as a way to pay on websites too, said Mr Short.Bad experiences have made some way of paying via handset
Companies such as I-play, Gameloft, EA, Multimap, SonyEricsson and Samsung have become the first to sign up and let people pay using the PayForIt system.
PayForIt was first announced in March 2006 and the official start date for the scheme was 1 September.
"Most big brands would not use premium rate SMS to run their services, it's not a good experience, it's not consumer friendly," said Anuj Khanna, a spokesman for Tanla Mobile which is one of the firms administering payments made via PayForIt.
"It's entirely geared at the low value, high volume transaction market," he said.
Paul Hunt, an expert on mobile commerce at consultancy Atos Origin, said there had been many failed attempts to set up similar schemes in the past. He said PayForIt has a good chance of success.
"There's a much wider age range of mobile users and the capabilities of handsets have changed," he said. "The click to buy reality is catching up with the hype."
But, he added, the backers of the scheme had to work hard to distinguish PayForIt from alternatives to ensure people realise how it differs from other schemes.
Ethiopia's Defar wins first world 5,000m title
Ethiopia's Defar wins first world 5,000m title
Yahoo!
OSAKA, Japan, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Ethiopia's Olympic champion and world record holder Meseret Defar clinched her first outdoor world title with a decisive victory in the 5,000 metres on Saturday. The 23-year-old was left as the ovewhelming favourite for the race after team mate Tirunesh Dibaba decided to skip the 5,000 metres because of illness following her 10,000 metres triumph. Biding her time in the humid conditions, Defar toook the lead on the penultimate lap and kicked on the final run down the back straight to leave the field for dead, crossing the line in 14 minutes 57.91 seconds.
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.
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.
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