In the night of April 24, 2007, 74 workers for this china owned, oil digging company were cold-bloodedly murdered in Obele town, which is 120 kilometers south of the Somali region’s capital, Jigjiga. Nine of the slain workers were Chinese, while the remaining sixty-five workers were Ethiopian labourers, thirty of whom were Somali-Ethiopians. Although ONLF took the lives of many innocent civilians in that eventful night, and took credit with the massacre, it brought great sorrows to many beleaguered families whose livelihood depended on the slain workers. Similarly, the destructive organization murdered and maimed tons of innocent people in Wardheer zone, where residents had already been plagued by successive droughts. In this zone, the organization murdered and maimed   traditional chiefs, religious figures and innocent fathers, raising poverty-stricken families. These are just two examples of the organization’s atrocities in the region, but brutalities carried out by the pitiless organization and inflected on the beleaguered population in the region are numerous and cannot be contained in this short article. Unfortunately, slaying innocent people, blowing up and annihilating vehicles carrying medical supplies for needy people have become an integral part of ONLF’s behaviour.

Another injustice inflicted on some segments of the region’s population is how the Somali region’s current administration dispenses the region’s affairs. The administration’s indifference to some localities is, indeed, beyond imagination. Abdullahi Hassan (Lugbuur) is the region’s President; however, his regime is anything but a just system. Being the president of the region and accountable to the region’s entire inhabitants, President Lugbuur is supposed to be fair and furthering needs of the region’s different zones and segments, whether these zones and segments share tribal bonds with him or not. However, the President has discriminated against some segments of the region by distancing them from public offices and destabilizing their constituencies. In fact, President Abdullahi Hassan’s administration has been blind to compelling needs that some of the region’s towns face and experience.

Araarso is one of the towns that suffer from the administration’s injustice; it seems that the town has been embargoed. The town is one of Dhagaxbuur zone’s localities, but has not been able to be recognized as a full district. The town, with a population of fifty thousand, has everything that can make it a fully functioning, independent district. It has schools, medical centers, community policing services, and farming corporations. Counting on the efforts of its concerned people, whether they live locally or overseas, Araarso town has achieved huge developments, yet despite the town’s unprecedented achievement, President Abdullahi Hassan’s administration has neither recognized Araarso town nor convinced it why it cannot be recognized as an independent, fully functioning district! Apparently, it appears that the town has been bullied and pushed aside by its stronger brother.  President Abdullahi Hassan and his close associates must not blind themselves to stark reality that is in front of their eyes. The stark reality is the fact that Araarso has all components that can make it a fully functioning district.

The Somali region of Ethiopia is suffering from both internal and external injustices, but the region may not break free from the injustices unless all the region’s inhabitants are treated equally and reminded of their shared bonds and brotherhood, and unless the region’s residents are constantly reminded of their rights that Ethiopia owes them; but despite the shortcomings of the region’s regime  all peace and  progress loving people must contribute to the betterment of the region’s conditions, or else the region will forever languish in dismal situations and undesirable circumstances. Likewise, the current region’s administration led by President Abdullahi Lugbuur ought to administer the region’s affairs justly and work tirelessly so as to meet the region’s different needs and concerns. Lastly, all exclusive names that can not pull all the regions’ residents together and represent their identities and interests must be shunned, for the exclusive names will weaken the Somali people in the region and widen their differences.