Opinion
Ethiopia:Blaming the Victim for Propaganda and Political Gains
By
May 28, 2007 - 3:35:39 PM

Right off the bat, the Ogaden Editorial Board, OEB, condemns the bombings in Jig Jiga where Ogaden civilians, forced to attend a political ceremony, which has no meaning to these poor citizens, have lost their lives.
 
Without proper investigation and lacking a single shred of evidence, the misinformation ambassador and advisor to the head of the autocracy, Mr. Bereket Simon claimed that ONLF is the 'culprit supported by Eritrea'.
 
It is incredulous how this prevaricator and purveyor of Ethiopian propaganda had quickly come up with a scapegoat for what local sources have attributed to a competition, which escalated to a physical confrontation, between two camps within the so-called local administration.
 
In the past month and half, it has been an open knowledge in Jig Jiga that a rift has developed between the head of the so-called local administration Mr. Abdullahi Hassan Lugbur and his security bureau head Mr. Abdi Ileeye. The source of the conflict is said to the head of the Ethiopian military based in Jig Jiga.
 
Because of the indiscriminate detention campaigns carried out by Mr. Ileeye and his security minions against the Ogaden citizenry, the head of the Ethiopian military in Jig Jiga sees Mr. Ileeye as a more 'capable' individual who can deal with the Ogaden citizenry as per the Ethiopian military's machinations. Mr. Lugbur on the other hand has his friends in the head of the Ethiopian autocracy office in Addis Ababa.
 
Reports from credible sources within the Ethiopian military in Jig Jiga attribute today's bombings in Jig Jiga as an attempt on the life of Mr. Lugbur so that the Ethiopian military can nominate Mr. Ileeye as the 'interim' successor to Mr.Lugbur.
 
Instead of carrying out proper investigation to find out the source of this bombing which turns out to be within the so-called local administration and the Ethiopian military personnel in Jig Jiga, the misinformation minister without portfolio Mr. Bereket has conveniently blamed the victim in this incident i.e. the Ogaden citizenry represented by ONLF.
 
Mr. Bereket's propaganda also blamed Eritrea which fits nicely with the recent Ethiopian campaign to deflect people's attention from Ethiopian failures both in Ogaden and Somalia by pointing the finger at an out side source, Eritrea in this case.
 
Ethiopian gamesmanship aside, the world community should not allow the Ethiopian Autocracy to force Ogaden civilians to gather for political ceremonies yet carryout indiscriminate bombing of civilians housed in a stadium with one exit.
 
What happened in Jig Jiga today is an organized, extra judicially carried out killings by the Ethiopian government and its associated militias for political gains. The world community should condemn this bombing and should prosecute the Ethiopian military and its political masters for massacring Ogaden civilians for their own political gains.
 
  editorial@ogaden.com
  Ogaden Online Editorial

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