OLF kills 35 ethiopian soldiers
Three Army officers fired
Staff Writer Ethiotribune November 16, 2006 Finfinne- the government-owned Ethiopian Television last night reported that three generals of the Ethiopian Army, Major General Alemshet Degife (Oromo), Brigadiers Kumera (Oromo) and Asaminew Tsige (Amhara), are suspended from their duties. Although the announcement was made by the Defense Council, at the Ministry of Defense, the instruction is said to come right from the Prime Minister himself. Major General Alemshet has been the Chief of the Air force.
He was assigned this force after a similar purge in 2001 following the division within the ruling Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the dominant party within the rump EPRDF. After the defection of other senior military commanders, the Ethiopian Prime Minister is facing strong upheaval from the armed force. Analysts believe that after the defection and dismissal of so many senior officers, maintaining control over the army will be highly problematic. Before coming to power in 1991, the TPLF manufactured PDOs to give a more multinational image. Lately this ruse is falling apart and the EPRDF, the ruling coalition, is increasingly being reduced to its Tigrean core with the defection, resignation, arrest and disappearance of several Oromo and Amhara dignitaries.
The Oromo and the Amhara make up close to 65% of the Ethiopian army. Although the Tigrean component is disproportionately represented at the high brass, the fighting force is mainly Oromo and Amhara. The current rounds of purges are likely to intensify rather than dampen tension within the armed forces.
An aura of suspicion has already building since the defection of Brigadier General Kamal Galchu, one of the army’s most decorated soldiers. General Galchu was accompanied by Colonel Abebe Garesu along with over 600 soldiers and officers of different ranks. Even though the BBC had reported only 150 and Ethiotribune has been able to confirm through its sources that the actual number was 600. Later they were joined by Brigadier General Hailu Ayana and Colonel Gammachu Ayana.
What is apparent from the purges and defections, both civilian and military, is that people think the EPRDF ship is sinking and want to jump before it runs aground. This is reminiscent and by far worse than the last days of the Dergue regime.
With continuing anti-government protests throughout Oromia, tension in the capital and many northern regions, armed confrontation in Ogaden, the standoff with Somalia, and the tension on the border with Eritrea, grave danger hovers over the future of the Ethiopian regime.
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Ethiopian Soldiers surrender in Babili
Nov 20, 2006 Reports reaching Ogaden Online service desk confirm the surrender of about fifty members of the Ethiopian military stationed in the town of Babili. The fifty soldiers are reported to have surrendered to the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) fighters who waged a surprise attack on the Ethiopian military garrison in Babili.
In related news, specially trained ONLF commandos carried out an operation in the city of Awaare. It is confirmed that this operation netted ten men one of whom is the chairman of the city of Awaare.
Reports from elsewhere in Ogaden indicate an increase in the number of operations where ONLF forces attack the Ethiopian military and its affiliated militias within their main garrisons. In one such incident in the town of Qoreyga, ONLF forces are reported to have attacked and killed fourteen members of the Ethiopian military. It is not known whether there were casualties on the ONLF side.
Recent ONLF operations have been felt throughout Ogaden. The speed, accuracy and the boldness of these operations, since they take place within the Ethiopian military garrisons, is said to have demoralized many members of the Ethiopian military.
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army officer that surrendered
i find it funny how a prime minister who has an army consisting of multiple ethnicies who are pissed off and who don't want be ruled by him is going to maintain a long war with a group (ICU) that has nothing to lose only more to gain
i find it funny how a prime minister thinks he's going to have any success on the longrun in a foreign country when he can't even fully controll the Gambella region aswell as the Oromo and Ogaden regions
many ethiopian soldiers escape through the Somali Bosaso port to Yemen
Latest Ethiopian Military Defections
Reports from Fiiq confirm the defection of thirty-four members of the Ethiopian military stationed in and around Fiiq. The latest defections took place on September 1st, 2006.
Ogaden Online and Radio Xoriyo reporters in Nogob province indicate that the defecting members escaped with all their military gear some of which were hand-held anti-tank weapons.
The latest defection follows that of over thirty soldiers who deserted their positions at the end of August. Latest reports indicate that Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) army welcomed the new defections. Many of the defecting soldiers are now reported to be with ONLF.
Reliable sources that requested anonymity said that the latest defections have created a state of apprehension within the Ethiopian military stationed in Fiiq. The same sources add that it is possible the head of the Ethiopian military in Fiiq may himself be contemplating defection but he is said to be unsure how ONLF will treat him.
In anther development, more than 20 generals have defected reliable source told EMF today. According to the sources the missing generals might have been on their way to somalia.
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Meles is the same as the last Somali and Ethiopian Presidents
Siyaad and Mengistu both had big armies but from the inside they were crumbling and eventually they were toppled
Meles is only speeding this process that's why he's firing all these army officers he's panicking
he thinks he can use Somalia as a tool to stay longer in power that's what Mengistu and Siyaad thought in 91'
when he still had hair;D
Meles Zenaawi the Ungratefull child of Somalia
If Somali government officials in the 1970's and early 80's were told that soon after the new millennium, Ethiopia would be seeking to convince the international community that it's military operations in Somalia were justified, that would come as no surprise. If you then mentioned that Melez Zenaawi would be the one leading this Ethiopian charge the reaction would probably have been one of disbelief.
After all, Melez Zenaawi and other leaders of the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) the ruling core of the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) enjoyed unprecedented hospitality by the Mogadishu government. It is an open secret that during his struggle to remove Marxist Dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam, Zenaawi travelled with a Diplomatic Somali passport. Everywhere he went he was greeted with open arms by Somali government officials. To the Somalis, he was an adopted son of sorts. Like their brethren in Ogaden, Zenaawi was struggling for self-determination (at least that is what he said).
But those familiar with Zenaawi during his stay in Mogadishu recall his intense jealousy for assistance Somalia gave the Eritrean Peoples Liberation Front (EPLF). One former Somali official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Ogaden Online "He was always telling us we should give him what we gave the Eritreans, every time he compared his situation with that of the Eritreans and tried to convince us he had a better chance to succeed against Mengistu than the EPLF"
But despite his envy of the EPLF Zenawi was clearly in no position to complain. Not only was he given a Somali diplomatic passport, but his TPLF was given an office and an expense account all paid for by Somali tax payers.
Zenaawi was also reportedly eager to gain favor among Arab nations, something he felt Somalia was clearly in a good position to get him. Unlike the Eritreans, the TPLF had limited contacts with the Arab world and desperately sought introduction to Arab diplomats in Mogadishu at every opportunity.
On Ogaden, Zenaawi is reported on more than one occasion to have strongly expressed that "Ethiopia is an Empire State artificially patched together" going on to say that all that would change once the oppressed overthrew mengistu.
Zenaawi did not spend all his time lobbying in Mogadishu however, he is reported to have enjoyed frequenting hotel restaurants and playing pool with Somali intelligence officers from the National Security Service (NSS).
While he was also a frequent visitor of the beaches along Mogadishu, he reportedly never went in the water because he could not swim.
Even when his hairline was just beginning to recede, he is reported to have been mocked by other TPLF comrades as having a striking resemblance to Lenin, something he was very proud of.
Following the cease fire agreement between Somali president Siad Barre and Ethiopian leader Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1988 requiring each nation to stop supporting the others armed opponents, Zenaawi was still allowed to keep his Somali diplomatic passport and even secretly visited Mogadishu on more than one occasion from Saudi Arabia, a location where the Somali government had arranged for him and other TPLF leaders to stay.
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Somalia and Ethiopia will be dragged back another 15 centuries
:thumbs_do
