Save The Oil
October 12, 2009: The Ethiopian government is assuring oil companies that the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) does not have the military capabilities to threaten oil exploration and production operations in the Ogaden region. For the last two months ONLF spokespeople have issued statements warning foreign oil companies that they could suffer attacks on their Ogaden operations. The ONLF has accused foreign oil companies of exploiting the people of the Ogaden and “collaborating” with the Ethiopian government. In 2007 the ONLF launched a huge raid on a Chinese oil company project that left 74 people dead; that attack deeply embarrassed the Ethiopian government. After that attack the Ethiopian Army began a sustained counter-insurgency operation against the ONLF. The government has argued that the ONLF has suffered heavy losses and can no longer organize a major attack like the 2007 assault. That may or may not be true; the ONLF is still capable of small attacks, though lately the attacks seem to be confined to the Ethiopia-Somalia border area. The government, of course, has an economic interest in protecting oil operations.
October 11, 2009: A force consisting of “several hundred” Ethiopian Army soldiers left the Ethiopian town of Ferfer and raided three villages in Somalia near the Ethiopia-Somalia border. The Ethiopian unit arrested several suspected members of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) and Somali Islamist extremists. The operation appears to be linked to the September 21 attack in the border area.
October 8, 2009: Britain announced that it is prepared to support extensive sanctions against Eritrea. Britain accused Eritrea of supplying weapons, training, and financial assistance to Somali Islamist extremists and militias.
Comment: ONLF, a terrorist organization with a possible link to Al-qaida has its headquarters in the West. The British must also deport all ONLF members and hand them to the Ethiopian Government, if they really are interested in eradicating terrorists in the Horn. If Britain or the West choose to harbor and assist terrorists, they are not different from Eritrea and the World must impose a sanction on them too.
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