By:Ahmed Abdi
Somalilandsun – The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) accused of Ethiopian regime of assassinating refugees from Ogaden region of Ethiopia, and Kenyan nationals that assist the refugees as well as Somali officials critics to her policy towards Somalia while appealing for protection for the Ogadeni asylum-seekers registered at UNHCR in Kenya in her press release on Sunday.
The ONLF warned that the “dangerous consequences” it may bring to all concerned if the Ethiopia’s cross border crimes and illegal activities such as abducting,coercion, and assassinations left unresponded .
“Since 2009, the Ethiopian government decided to routinely abduct and commit extrajudicial executions, including politically motivated killings in Kenya and so far the action taken by the Kenyan government to protect the refugees it gave asylum was not enough to stop such criminal acts”,the statement said,referring to Ethiopia’s transnational nature of organized crimes in recent years.
“After failing to deter Somalis from Ogaden to keep seeking refuge in Kenya ,despite all these inhumane acts, the Ethiopian regime has now decided to punish the local Somali Kenyans for supporting the refugees and in order to create chaos and destabilize the North-Eastern Province of Kenya,” the statement reads.
ONLF urged United Nation’s Refugee Agency and Kenyan government to do any necessary prevention to protect the lives of the refugees that are under threat of Ethiopian assailants and Kenyan citizenry “that are under its care.”
ONLF’s press release came after weeks of series assassinations and wound occurred in Kenya,which caused panic among the Ogadeni Refugees and Somali Kenyans in North-Eastern Province alike.
Over the last three weeks the Ethiopian Security has assassinated three Kenyan nationals and wounded another one in Garissa,Kenya .
Ethiopian assailants such as Abdirahman Hajira, who was arrested by the public on Wednesday afternoon and 19 others allegedly dispatched by the Addis Ababa regime and still believed hiding in the Kenyan territory will force the Kenyan Security forces to work round the clock to neutralize and effectively deal with threat .
The Ethiopian assailants were reportedly trained in Addis Ababa and have crossed into Kenya early this year by way of Moyale border to Nairobi before travelling to their destination, Garissa.
“The arrest of one of the killers is crucial as he will give us more details . We will want to know his accomplices and those who have been sending them,”Garissa county commissioner Rashid Khator said.
“We will not allow people to kill our people. People should not settle their political or business rivalries in our town. We will pursue them until we get all of them,” Khator said.
ONLF’s statement denounced Ethiopia’s genocidal policy towards Somalis in Ogaden and praised Kenya’s hospitality for the refugees that sought refugee in its soil.
“The Ethiopian regime has taken a policy of coercion, extermination and mass execution against the Ogaden people in Ethiopia, so they fled to the neighboring countries. Many of these refugees sought asylum in Kenya and which has been a safe haven for the refugees in the horn and central Africa ,because of their hospitality and for their respect of international and African laws of Refugees.”
Kenyan brokered peace-talks between ONLF and Ethiopia stalled in Oct 17, 2012, after the ONLF refused to accept Ethiopian constitution, which it says the Ethiopian constitution does not concern the Somalis in Ogaden. The kidnappings of two members of ONLF negation team ,Sulub Abdi Ahmed and Ali Ahmed Hussein,have further complicated diplomatic negotiations between the ONLF and Ethiopia.
