2007–2008 Ethiopian crackdown in Ogaden

Ethiopian crackdown in Ogaden

Ogaden rebels filmed in an Al Jazeera report

Date	June 2007 – May 2008
Location	Somali Region, Ethiopia
Result	Indecisive; Ethiopians claim victory, ONLF denies that

Belligerents

TPLF

ONLF

Commanders and leaders

Meles Zenawi

Unknown

Casualties and losses

375 killed (official claim)
950 killed (ONLF claim)

~500 killed (Ethiopian claim)2,500 killed (Local claim)

Civilian casualties:
<1,000 killed

The 2007–2008 Ethiopian crackdown in Ogaden was a military campaign by the Ethiopian Army against the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF). The crackdown against the guerrillas began after they killed 74 people in an attack on a Chinese-run oil exploration field in April 2007.

The main military operations were centered on the towns of Degehabur, Kebri Dahar, Werder and Shilavo in Ogaden, which are in the Ethiopian Somali Region. The area is home to the Ogaden clan, seen as the bedrock of support of the ONLF.

According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), various human rights abuses were committed by the Ethiopian military.

Ethiopia's eastern Somali Region, whose major part constitutes the Ogaden, is the site of a long-running, low-intensity armed conflict between the Ethiopian government and the ONLF. Formed in 1984, many of the ONLF's members had supported Somalia in the Ogaden War with Ethiopia over the region in the 1970s. The group's aims have varied over time from independence to joining a "greater Somalia" or obtaining greater autonomy within Ethiopia.

ONLF: Ogaden National Liberation Front
TPLF: Tigrayan People's Liberation Front
UN: United Nations
HRW: Human Rights Watch
ICRC: International Committee of the Red Cross
OCHA: Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
UIC: Union of Islamic Courts

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Wikipedia