Ethiopian rebels delegation meets Danish officials

Mar 16, 2006 (COPENHAGEN) — A delegation of the rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) on Monday 13 March 2006, met with Danish officials at the Danish Foreign Ministry, said the opposition radio Voice of the Ogadeni People .

The ONLF delegation briefed them on the situation in the province of Ogadenia and human rights abuses committed against Ogadenia population.

Danish officials told the ONLF delegation that Denmark had cut all aid to Ethiopia after realizing that the Meles Zenawi regime was not practising democracy, the opposition radio said.

The ONLF delegation, which comprised ONLF vice-chairman, Mohammed Ismail, and the deputy chairman of the ONLF foreign affairs department and Ogadenia nationals abroad, Mohammed Mahalin, has been visiting Denmark for over a week.

The ONLF delegation met with Birger Fredriksson, the head of the African department in the Danish Ministry of Foreign Ministry, whom they briefed on “colonialism in Ogadenia, massacres” against Ogadenia Somalis, Ethiopian government’s policy of starving Ogadenia Somalis, and its refusal to end the Ogadenia conflict peacefully.

Fredriksson said the Danish government was well aware of the situation in Ethiopia, and how the Ethiopian government abused human rights, as well as its refusal to practice democracy. He told the ONLF delegation that the Danish government did not give any aid to the Ethiopian government.

He pledged that he would deliver to his government the ONLF delegation’s message. He said the Danish government was very interested in peace prevailing in the Horn of Africa.

(ST)