March 3, 2025
Borkena
Toronto – Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) says it will no longer “communicate with the government[the Federal government]” and vows to rather hold public discussion on the nature of the next chapter of its struggle. It is Abdirahman Mahdi, the leader, who told the BBC Amharic service.
The ONLF was an armed insurgent group struggling to secede the Ogaden region from Ethiopia. It was in 2018 that the organization entered Ethiopia after talks with the Abiy Ahmed government in Asmara. It has been waging an armed struggle for more than 30 years.
On Sunday a statement entitled “The Ethiopian Government Has Abandoned the 2018 Peace Agreement with ONLF” which was reported to be from ONLF leadership has been circulating on social media.
However, ONLF leaders based in the country are disowning the statement. The organization told the BBC that the message “does not represent the party.” From the Fana report, Ethiopian government owned media, the statement was issued in Nairobi.
It seems the party still needs an arrangement for “self-determination up to secession.” Abdikadir Adani, OLF spokesperson, is cited as saying “an agreement [in Asmara more than six years ago] was reached to hold a series of discussions on ‘Ogaden people self determination.”
BBC Amharic also cited the spokesperson as saying that ONLF still wants the implementation of self-determination.
Integrating the ONLF fighters to the region’s security structure and rehabilitation of those impacted by the war was also part of the agreement, Abdikadir added. However, the government did not implement it and as many as 18,000 armed rebels were dispersed – according to the spokesperson.
According to a BBC Amharic report, there was planned talk between ONLF and Ethiopian government in the Kenyan capital Nairobi but it was abandoned – which the former condemned.
Two top Federal government officials – the Minister for Finance (Ahmed Shide) and Deputy Chairman of the ruling prosperity Party, Farah Adem, are among the politicians from the Somali region of Ethiopia. There have been reports – including by state owned media from the Somali region – that the region ONLF calls Ogaden has been transformed in terms of infrastructure development- over the past six years. The region has also been relatively peaceful compared to the rest of Ethiopia.
The Somali regional government has been making claims that it held talks with ONLF but the spokesperson denies it. “The regional government has started a divisive approach by holding talks with ONLF elements with whom it has contact.” ONLF claims those who held talks with the government were dismissed from the party in 2020. This is one of the reasons for the party’s decision not to communicate with the government again.
“ONLF will no longer communicate with a government that deliberately abandons the peace process and closes the democratic space,” The party said in its latest decision.
The Somali regional state has rejected ONLF’s statement. The Federal government is yet to remark on the ONLF statement.
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