Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Agenzia Fides) - Tension rises in the Horn of Africa where regional rivalry, fundamentalism and interests in real or presumed local oil resources on the part of major world powers, have produced and explosive cocktail which could aliment a very widespread conflict.
While in Mogadishu capital of Somalia fighting continues between Ethiopian troops and groups of rebels, some perhaps connected with international fundamentalism, in the Ethiopian region of Ogaden inhabited mainly by Somalis, a serious attack on an oil exploring installation killed 9 Chinese technicians and 65 Ethiopian workmen. Another 6 Chinese technicians were taken hostage by the commando. The National Front for the Liberation of Ogaden (ONLF) has claimed responsibility for the attack. According to the government of Addis Ababa, ONLF, a group which has been active in the region for some time, is allied with the militia of the Somali Islamic Courts fighting the Ethiopian intervention in Mogadishu.
In a statement the rebel group ordered “all international oil companies to refuse any agreement with the Ethiopian government which has no effective control over Ogaden”. The territory of Ogaden is historically disputed by Ethiopia and Somalia, who fought a bloody war for its control in 1977-78. Guerrilla groups claiming independence from Addis Ababa have been active in the region for decades. One reason for Ethiopia's intervention in Somalia to help the weak national transition government derives from the fear that the IslamicCourts with their rhetoric about Ogaden's “ethnic” belonging to the “Great Somalia” will encourage ferments of rebellion in the region. The idea of the “Great Somalia” derives from the aspiration to unite in one state all the Somali peoples living in Somalia, Djibouti and some regions of Ethiopia and Kenya.
The Ethiopian government has accused Eritrea of supporting both ONLF and the militia which operate in Somalia where in Mogadishu fighting with heavy weapons continues. An alarming development are suicide attacks claimed by a group which calls itself Young Muhajeddin Movement. A truck exploded near an Ethiopian army camp at Afgoy, south west of Mogadishu. The truck was driven by a suicide bomber of Kenyan origin according to a statement issued by the group. A fact which indicates a network across East Africa with unpredictable developments for regional stability. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 25/4/2007 righe 34 parole 403)
