The Ogaden Somali territory lies between Oromia, Afar land, Djibouti, Kenya and Somalia. Somali agro-pastoral people with a single language, culture, and socio-economic structure inhabit Ogaden.
According to him, the 'sweeps' were ostensibly carried out at the request of 'elders' from Ogaden. He also adds that his order came after so-called peace talks he endorsed and spearheaded by 'elders' failed.
Zenawi knows full well that every word he uttered in the interview given to the BBC is far from the truth. He is fully aware that his words are nothing more than obstreperous lies intended to mislead those in the western world who may not be closely following the happenings in Ethiopia and Ogaden.
Let us call a spade a spade and counter Zenawi's obstreperous lies with the naked truth and his own actions in Ogaden. The sage mind understands that no elder in his right mind will ask a foreigner to attack his own people.
No one, except the highbrow from Maqale, knows what to make of the fact that the said elder was ordered to go abroad in search of a non-existent peace and yet military operations were instigated soon after the elder's departure abroad.
This is exactly what Zenawi did. It is mind-boggling for him to come out six months after these 'peace searching' debacles and claim that his failed, illegal military operations in Ogaden came only after the elders' failed peace initiatives.
Zenawi is a liar who is convinced that repeating his ware of lies many times and to as many audiences as he can find will morph them, lies, in to to the truth. Denying that his army is in Somalia when his own foreign ministry, among other sources such as world media, admitted for the record that they are there to help the Somali government is the latest example from his bag of lies.
If he is determined to deny the presence of his army in Somalia when the UN and the US government have asked him to pull his troops out then no one should believe him when he claims that his militias have not killed civilians by the thousands in Ogaden. Zenawi's latest interview is nothing more than half-baked arguments from an unskilled highbrow.
Ogaden Online Editorial