Top UN relief officials visits Ethiopia’s volatile Ogaden region

The United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator arrived in Ethiopia Tuesday to visit the strife-torn Ogaden region where over 640,000 people are in urgent need of food, water, medical supplies and other assistance.

"This was a valuable opportunity to get an impression for myself of the situation on the ground, and to see the work the UN team has already done to confront the serious humanitarian challenges in the region," said Mr. Holmes, who is also UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs.

Humanitarian conditions have worsened in the region in the past several months due to fighting between the Ethiopian National Defence Forces and the Ogaden National Liberation Front.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs the world body has dispatched more than 7,300 metric tonnes of food to the five military zones in the region. Preparations are also being finalized to deploy 15 mobile health teams including 10 in the area of conflict.

Mr. Holmes discussed how the UN can further help during meetings with local officials in the regional capital of Jijiga. He also discussed ways to improve the humanitarian situation in Ogaden with representatives of the UN agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in the area.

From Jijiga, Mr. Holmes travelled to Kabridehar, where the UN recently established a field presence, and met with government officials, UN staff and NGO personnel to discuss the main needs in the area and how to address them, as well as the challenges that affect relief operations.

Mr. Holmes said he plans to raise the issues of access and freedom of commercial activity in his meetings with senior Ethiopian officials, including the Prime Minister, Wednesday in the country's capital, Addis Ababa.

He is also scheduled to meet the chief of the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea and heads of UN agencies before departing the country for Sudan, the next leg of his current three-nation tour which will also include a stop in Kenya for talks on massive displacement in neighbouring Somalia.

Background
Ogaden is a part of the Somali Region in Ethiopia, also kown as "Abyssinian Somaliland”. Some locals refer to it as Ogadenia (Somali: Ogaadeeniya).The inhabitants are predominantly ethnic Somali and Muslim.

The fact that some Somalis call the entire Somali region of Ethiopia "Ogadenia" is a cause of much friction in the region, because there are significant other clans in the Ogaden, such as the Gadabuursi, Sheikhal, Hawiye and Marehan.

For this reason the titles "Somali Galbeed", which means "Western Somalia," is often preferred by supporters of the concept of Greater Somalia.

The region, which is around 200,000 square kilometres, borders Djibouti, Kenya, and Somalia. Important settlements include Degehabur (Dhagaxbuur in Somali), Gode (Godey), Jijiga (Jigjiga), Kebri Dahar (Qabridahare), Shilavo (Shilaabo) and Werder (Wardheer).

History
The region was incorporated into Ethiopia by Menelik II during the last quarter of the 19th century, and its boundary with British Somalialand was one of the first boundaries of Ethiopia to be fixed by treaty in June, 1897

Secessionist activities have involved the political goals and militaries of Ethiopia and Somalia. In the late 1970s, both countries fought the Ogaden War over control of this region and its peoples.

The main rebel group is the Ogaden National Liberation Front under its Chairman Mohamed O. Osman, which is fighting to liberate the Ogaden from what they see as Ethiopian occupation.

This has been the case for so long and the international community has declined to speak about the situation in Ogadenia, but finally with the Chinese Oil Company in Ogaden, without the consent of Ogaden People, the ONLF was forced to take action.