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Ethiopian Government - Somali Islamist Conflict Explained Fully by a Native Ethiopian

Sunday, 31 December 2006
I am Ethiopian and I will give the rest of you the rundown on whats really going on in the horn. I have read newspaper articles and the forums posts and noticed many errors. I dont blame people for not knowing the histrical, ethnic and relgious knowledge of the horn but it is important that people know the background to gain greater understanding. I will give you guys an objective analysis and my opinion at the End. There are many reasons that Ethiopia is in Somalia but i will give you a couple. Ethiopia and Somalia have fought religious war in the 1500s and two major wars in 1960 and 1977 regaring the "Ogaden" region, which is a quarter of Ethiopias landmass. The Ethiopeian gov considers the Islamists a threat to its soverignty and this is the biggest reason that Ethiopia is in Somalia. The islamists have vowed to pursue "greater Somalia" and annex this region as well as Djibouti and Northern Kenya. Ethiopia claimed the area which is mostly Somali in the 18oos before the British took it over. During independence the British decided to give the land to Ethiopia and not Somalia. This lauched the two wars aginst Ethiopia who won both wars. Ethiopia has a complex ethinic situation with 5 major thnic groups and 75 others. Ethiopia is half muslim and christians had christians have traditionally been in power but the two relgions can set an example to the rest of the world on how to get along. Ethiopia has two Liberation Fronts from two of its ethnic groups, The Ogaden National LIberation Front(ONLF) and the Oromo Liberation Front(OLF). The ONLF is getting support from the Islamsits and the OLF which represent the biggest ethnic group with 40 million people has the government worried about the support that an ilamic state would give them (Oromos are 60% Muslim). Ethiopia is also in Somalia because Ethiopia has been designated the Horn "police" by the U.S government and they has been getting milatary aid and training. The so called "Aid" only keeps dictator Meles Zanawi hold power and it would never help the people in any way. Ehiopia recieves the is in the amongst the top 5 aid receipients in Africa and I think most of it is detremental (long Story). I dont think that any usefull aid will increse becasue of the intervention. Ethiopia was also in Somalia in the 1995 to kick out another islamic group called "al Ithad Islami" which it kicked out of Somalia. The leader of the Islamic courts "Aweys" was also part of the leadership of "all Ithad islami" and this group was blamed for the bombings of the Ethiopian capital. The U.S also belives that the people responsible for the bombings of the US embasy bombings are amonngst this group. Although overexaggerated, Ethiopia and the US have reasons to be wary of The islamic courts. The third reason ethiopia is in Somalia is becasue the Ehiopian government is a Dictatorship which pretends that Ethiopia is a Democratic country but it has massacred hundreds of protesters in last years post election. Meles Zanawi is despised by most Ethiopians and he and the parliment clearly stole the election last year. He has jailed all of the Opposition and 30,000 youths. This war could be an effort by him to put some distance between himself and these ugly realities to Ethiopians and the international community. I have noticed some Myths of why ethiopia is at war with the islamists. Some think its for a port but Ehiopia has been using the Port of the northern somalia town of Berbera for years along with the one in Djibouti. The counry was landlocked do to the partiion of an old Province Eritrea during the Revolution of 1991. A lot of Muslims think that it is a beef with them and this is untrue becasue half the soldiers and population is muslim. Some people think that the U.S ordered Ethiopia to attack the islamists but the Ethiopia some things to gain from the ouster of the islamists. The collective calling of them as "Islamists" might be another myth becasue most of them are actually moderate. "Al Jezera" and others( America cynics) have said that the U.S told Ethiopia to attack becasue of the oil issue but Somalia has no Natural resources and no hints of oil has ever been discovered. That was my Objective analysis and this is my opinion! Ethiopia has no business in this war and the problems of Somalias are theirs and we got plenty of our own. I am proud of my countrys history and culture but the socio economic state of the country is nothing to be proud of. Thanks to governance like this the counrty is not only known for wars but famine, in a land that has the best soil in africa( volcanic phospahte, created the Ethiopian Highlancds) and has 40-60 inches of rainfall. By the way everyone is not starving we have 80 million people and only a 3 million need food aid. The government should concentrate on economic development and institutional strengthening instead of being Americas proxy milatary. Islamists would be decades away of even begginging to seriosly ethiopia if they ever did. Ethiopia has 80 million people to Somalis 10 million and our Army is on of Africas biggest and best. Ideally I think the Ogaden region should belong to Somailia but that would open up a can of worms. I dont like Islam and Christianity and wish that one day Ethiopia can rid itself of them to hurrdle another barrier to development. I have tried to give a good overview but im sure i missed something. I have more information then I have time to write about this so if anyone has any questions on the Horn, just ask becasue i am the "expert". feel fee to comment. Full Story........
Last Updated ( Monday, 01 January 2007 )