Apr 12, 2016

Ogaden: Over 25 People Killed in Floodings Around Jigjiga


Photo Courtesy of: Rod Waddington 2013 @Flickr

While just a few weeks ago El-Nino-inspired droughts were causing havoc in Ogadenia, now heavy rains are triggering severe flooding in Ethiopia’s eastern­most region. When the Fafen river, which flows through Ogaden’s capital Jigjiga, burst its banks on 2 April 2016, 25 people were reportedly killed, at least 84 sustained injuries and about 1000 got displaced. Meanwhile, Ethiopia’s central government seems to be more interested in exploiting the region’s resources than in providing disaster relief and alleviating the suffering of the local population.

 

Below is an article published by the Mareeg: 

Heavy rain and flash floods have killed at least 25 and left 84 others injured on Sunday [2 April 2016], along the Fafen river in the occupied nation’s capital of Jigjiga, local residents said.

The residents said the extreme flooding caused the Fafen river to burst its banks after midnight, while most of the people were quietly in their sleeping.

It was not immediately possible to learn what the Ethiopian established administration in Ogaden could do to ensure timely relief activities for the victims; including the provision of proper medical care, food and shelter for the affected. Ethiopian Appointed Regional President, Abdi Mohamoud Omar, could not be contacted for immediate comment.

However, the disaster has likely left at least a thousand people displaced , who have already suffered due to the droughts brought by the El Nino climate phenomenon and have no hope of receiving emergency aid for being rebellious in terms of Ethiopian highlanders control of the land.

The United States and the European Union, mainly the United Kingdom, have so far ignored the plights of the 7-8 million Somalis in the Ogaden region, whose oil and gas-rich territory has been approached by the Chinese energy corporation POLY-GCL in recent months.

The Ethiopian regime has been battling forces known as Ogaden National Liberation Army (ONLA) who are backed by the local population and seek full independence from Addis Ababa since 1984, in a conflict that has cost the lives of hundreds of thousands and forced nearly a million to flee from their territory, the Ogaden.

The Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front or TPLF-led regime has blocked the International Red Cross and other aid agencies from carrying out relief work in the occupied territory of the Ogaden since the Abole oil field raid on 24 April 2007.

The Western media in Addis Ababa has been forced to compromise on the Ogaden issue after two Swedish journalists were captured by Ethiopian troops in the Ogaden during their attempt to investigate the relationship between energy companies and the human rights violations in the occupied Somali land of the Ogaden.