Ethiopian Government Plans to Sign Peace Deal With Ogaden Rebels

Ethiopia’s government will sign a peace deal with the United Western Somali Liberation Front, a rebel organization that has been fighting for independence in the ethnic Somali region in the east of the country.

The accord will be signed tomorrow in the capital, Addis Ababa, the Communication Ministry said in an e-mailed statement today.

The UWSLF is a rival of the Ogaden National Liberation Front, which also operates in the Somali region. Both groups are considered to be successors to the Western Somali Liberation Front that fought for independence for the region and assisted the army of neighboring Somalia in its ultimately unsuccessful invasion of the Ogaden in 1977-88.

In 2006, the UWSLF kidnapped Irish Red Cross Worker Donal O’Suilleabhain and an Ethiopian colleague Hadis Ahmed Samatar. Both were later released unharmed.

To contact the reporter on this story: William Davison in Addis Ababa via Johannesburg at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.

Source: Bloomberg.com