UN fears humanitarian crisis in remote Ethiopian region
Xan Rice
Thursday September 20, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
A military crackdown on rebels in Ethiopia's remote Ogaden region has created "pervasive fear" among hundreds of thousands of civilians and contributed to acute shortages of food and medicine, according to the United Nations.
A UN mission sent to investigate claims of a brewing humanitarian crisis in the region last night called for emergency food aid to be distributed to 600,000 people and for the lifting of a commercial blockade.
In a 23-page report, the team described the human rights situation as "alarming" and called for an independent investigation in accounts of widespread atrocities.
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The Ogaden, one of Ethiopia's poorest areas and populated mainly by ethnic Somalis, has been the focus of a long rebellion for several decades.
But the insurgency took on a new dimension in April when the Ogaden National Liberation Front attacked a Chinese-run oil installation, killing 74 people, including nine Chinese workers.
Soon after, the government launched a major retaliatory operation. But attempts to deny the rebels support caused huge distress to the civilian population as a trade blockade, both with the region and along the border with Somalia, sent prices soaring.
The UN team reported that basic goods had nearly doubled in cost in three months, putting them beyond the reach of many people.
At the same time the price of livestock, the main source of income for people in outlying areas, dropped by a third because cattle traders could not move freely.
In the last six weeks, only 10% of food aid has been distributed to civilians in the area, according to the report.
When aid agencies began to warn of serious problems in July, the Ethiopian government accused them of siding with the rebels.
The International Committee for the Red Cross was expelled from the Ogaden. Medecins sans Frontieres, which reported seeing dozens of burnt or abandoned villages, was denied access to the worst affected areas. Journalists were also barred from the region.
The UN team spent seven days visiting 15 towns and villages in three of the five main areas of conflict. Their report expressed serious concerns that the military was controlling aid and preventing it from reaching people in the rural areas, some of who had been without food relief for a year.
"If the situation remains unchanged, the food security situation could reach emergency levels very shortly," the report said.
The ONLF, which is demanding greater autonomy for the Ogaden, was also censured for planting landmines along roads where fighting was taking place, causing significant civilian casualties.
The UN team said a separate, private, report reflecting its human rights concerns would be sent to the Ethiopian government.
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