12/03/2025
The War in Ethiopia, Eritrea, and the Planned Strategy
Initially, Abiy wanted to attack Eritrea while uniting all of Ethiopia’s ethnic groups under his leadership. His goal was to eliminate the Amhara, Tigray, and Somali (Ogaden) groups. However, the political strategy he had initially agreed upon—with all neighboring countries and armed movements—collapsed. What was once a peace agreement has now turned into a conflict, reviving the old cycle of killings and mutual destruction that previous Ethiopian governments had inflicted on each other.
From the very day Abiy came to power, he decided to turn the Ethiopian people against one another to divide and control them. He believed this approach would secure his long-term rule if he could instigate conflict everywhere. He acted by pitting ethnic groups against each other, dividing them regionally, politically, and even along clan lines. Within each ethnic group, he further fragmented society, fostering intra-group conflict over land and resources.
Today, Abiy is reaping the consequences of his political miscalculations, which he pursued in his attempt to establish a personal empire. He aimed to forcibly control the Red Sea, but now he risks losing areas he relies on along the Red Sea, such as Djibouti.
The Amhara are moving to destroy Ethiopia’s largest oil reserves, located in Awash, and the three bridges used by trains and trucks.
The Tigrayans want to cut off railway and transport links between Djibouti and Ethiopia.
The OLA (Oromo Liberation Army) seeks to destroy Ethiopia’s second-largest oil reserve in Kumbulshe.
The ONLF (Ogaden National Liberation Front) wants to stop Abiy’s illegal use of oil in Ogaden.
Eritrea, which Abiy used against the Tigrayans yesterday, is now using Abiy against the Tigrayans, Amhara, and Ogaden Somali.
There is silent anger among all the smaller ethnic groups, waiting for the conflict to begin. The Amhara, Oromo, Ogaden, and Eritreans are all preparing to confront Abiy, who is backed by the forces he extracted from Ogaden.
The Ethiopian people are enraged after their culture, freedoms, livelihoods, and religions were undermined by a harsh military regime. They face unemployment, unpaid wages, disease, and oppressive systems.
Ethiopia is the only African country that participated in the Berlin Conference of 1884, where Africa was divided. Menelik, an Amhara, came from Gojam and Gondar and conquered all the ethnic groups in Ethiopia. Menelik’s power did not come from his own ethnic group but from the support of Western governments. Today, Ethiopia is the only country in Africa where one group dominates others in a colonial-style manner.
The Western powers, including the U.S., have allowed Ethiopia to continue existing, but the Ethiopian leaders and people do not acknowledge this assistance. They claim that the U.S. and Western countries help only to exploit Ethiopia’s land, oil, and minerals, and that Ethiopia remains independent, resisting outside control.
Whenever there is injustice under authoritarian leadership, the U.S. and Western powers often intervene, yet Ethiopia never shows gratitude for their involvement.
Whenever Ethiopia collapses, the reason is the existing regime, which cloaks itself as a monarchy.
This leads to fear, famine, hunger, and divisions among people and religions.
In 1948, the UK handed Ogadenia over to Ethiopia. Similarly, in 1948, Britain handed Palestine over to Israel. Although Palestine suffered greatly, it received support from Arab governments in both media and financial assistance. In contrast, Ogadenia has received no help against oppressive Ethiopian rule up to the present day.
During Menelik’s era, with British troops accompanying him, he waged war against Sayid Mohamed Abdille Hassan in the Horn of Africa. From 1889 until today, the war over Ogadenia—forcibly placed under Ethiopian control—has continued.
When Haile Selassie took over Ethiopia, he established underground prisons similar to those of Saddam Hussein. These were called Alm Baqayn, meaning “I have created the world.” These prisons mainly held Ogadenians who resisted being handed over to Ethiopia by the British. Prisoners included educated individuals, cultural leaders, religious scholars, and intellectuals. Anyone who entered these prisons rarely returned alive.
Haile Selassie’s troops, when traveling through Ogadenia, would execute men, women, and children, often in public, and take livestock along the way. They would laugh when someone was shot, boasting about their actions, while their companions cheered, saying, “The brave has defeated the enemy.” He sent his troops to seize Ogadenians’ livestock, and when people brought their weapons for defense, the troops were ordered to kill everyone, leaving only ruins behind.
The government then imposed taxes supposedly for building schools in the Amhara regions, yet denied Ogadenians the right to education or freedom. Countless other atrocities occurred, too numerous to recount here, all causing immense suffering.
Haile Selassie and Menelik came from Gojj am and Gondar, seeking to dominate peoples far from their homeland, disregarding borders, while the world watched and even invested in Ethiopia.
Mengistu Haile Mariam, Haile Selassie’s successor, entered the 1977 war between Somalia and Ethiopia. Somalia sought to seize Ogadenia for its oil, fertile land, livestock, and minerals. Mengistu, as Ethiopia’s ruler over Ogadenia, sought to maintain control over these resources for himself. Neither government cared for the people; millions were displaced, many died, and the rest lived in fear. Livestock and wealth were destroyed, leaving those who could not flee to suffer for years.
When Somalia almost captured Addis Ababa, U.S. and Soviet intervention pushed them back. Mengistu’s regime then relocated people from southern and northern Ethiopia—mostly Amhara—to Ogadenia, intending to displace the native population. When he settled the first 600 families, mass protests arose, drawing attention from the international media and Western governments. Mengistu was enraged when neither Russia nor China could assist.
Meles Zenawi, a minority Tigrayan, then came to power, dividing the country into nine administrative regions. Four were divided for shared rule, while five were left powerless, incapable of making decisions. Using ethnic groups—including Amhara, Tigray, and southern Oromo—Meles attacked Ogadenia’s administrative region, which had recently achieved its first ONLF electoral victory.
The Ogaden people were left devastated: killed, wounded, displaced, or living in constant fear, both in urban and rural areas. Meles established a government loyal only to him. Ogadenian fighters, drawn from the ethnic groups in the EPRDF coalition (who had divided power with Tigray), were all trained in Christian beliefs. They were told that Ogadenia, being inhabited by Muslims, was hostile and needed to be subdued.
Ethiopian forces attacked Ogadenia with the intent to settle their own ethnic group there. Tigray soldiers surrendered in large numbers during conflicts, and similar patterns occurred in Amhara regions, leaving the local population subjected to religious and ethnic repression.
Ogadenia could not be subdued by conventional military means, as the Ethiopian army could not operate effectively in a Muslim-majority region. The federal forces relied on harsh rule imposed on the civilian population. Long-term conflict between the Ethiopian army and the ONLF forced Meles to fragment the Ogaden population further. He created administrative units and loyal local forces called “Liyu Police,” tasked with collecting taxes and enforcing control brutally. Many Ogadenians were imprisoned, killed, or severely injured. Prisoners were subjected to tortures such as being forced to bend over in water.
Meles further exploited ethnic, political, and territorial divisions to weaken Ogadenia, consolidating control through fear, repression, and systematic violence.
For 22 years, Ogadenia has been systematically targeted for extermination.
The Ogaden people were turned into a population that either fled, died, were injured, or lived in constant fear. In addition, the wells from which they drank were poisoned, killing livestock and leaving no one able to farm due to fear. The plan was to turn their land into refugee settlements and distribute imported wheat to others. This indeed happened.
The suffering was immense. Women recounted their trauma, saying that whenever they saw a bullet, they feared even standing up and would tremble uncontrollably. Children as young as 7, 8, 9, and 10 were r***d; when their parents spoke out, they were imprisoned and tortured. Eventually, even those unable to speak out were silenced, with their children continuing to live under fear.
The Ogaden people were subjected to power abuse, and today Abiy Ahmed continues a cycle of use and abuse. Many of the innocent people who were killed under previous regimes, including Meles Zenawi, suffered violent deaths. After the Tigray regime’s collapse, the four EPRDF leaders who had ruled unjustly were themselves consumed by disorder. They sought monarchy and wanted to instill fear and irreversible punishment to maintain their rule—but they ultimately fell into the trap they had set for others.
Today, power in Ethiopia is divided between the two majority ethnic groups: Amhara and Oromo, excluding all other minorities. Historically, Amhara and Oromo forcibly settled minority populations in their territories to consolidate future power. Yet conflict erupted between the Somali people and the majority groups; the saying goes: when two injustices agree, the oppressed suffer. Abiy Ahmed has now replaced Meles Zenawi. Unlike Meles, who was a minority, Abiy comes from the Oromo majority and also seeks to establish a monarchy.
Ethiopian citizens appear to comply whenever a ruler declares monarchy, demonstrating a lack of legal or systematic governance, where strength determines rule. Without intervention, Ethiopia risks a tragedy worse than Rwanda. Monarchy and dictatorship remain the solutions Ethiopia uses to escape poverty.
Abiy’s first war began in Ogadenia, creating conflict between the Harari and Somali Ogaden administrative regions. Subsequent campaigns targeted Somali populations in Ogadenia and Somaliland, destroying historical Somali leadership, including the legacy of Sayid Mohamed Abdille Hassan. He dismantled the Liyu Police, dividing the ONLF (Ogaden National Liberation Front), which had previously cooperated with China on exploiting Ogaden’s oil, gas, and petroleum. Prior to this, 70 people, including Chinese engineers, were killed in Ogaden oil operations.
Abiy began extracting Ogaden’s resources forcefully, without any local consultation or education programs. Poisoned gas contaminated farmland and water, killing people and livestock. Respiratory diseases, cancer, and infertility among women began to spread. Deaths of humans and animals rose dramatically due to contaminated water and soil.
Abiy used the Ethiopian parliament to claim certain lands, framing it as a military strategy. Diri Dhaba, historically Somali territory, was forcibly taken by Oromo soldiers, planted under the pretext of political allegiance from Haile Selassie’s era. Abiy sought to have Oromo occupy Ogadenia, exploiting the local population and resources. Oromo forces—civilians, military, and militias—now attack Ogadenia, reflecting a deliberate act of aggression orchestrated by Abiy.
The Diri Dhaba area, traditionally Somali, has always been administered by Somali leadership. Oromo occupation here is an imposition by settlers with no historical claim. Abiy’s actions extend further, targeting Ogadenian youth and children to prepare for war in Eritrea. All defenders were systematically eliminated. He intends to settle Oromo in Ogadenia and remove Somali residents.
Meanwhile, during Meles’ rule, the Amhara resettled thousands of families in Ogadenia—today around 50,000 families in the Ogaden administrative region and up to 300,000 in Benshangul-Gumuz. Similarly, Harari and some Harari-speaking groups were displaced. The goal of these settlements was to expand Amhara influence and maintain control over territories Meles once ruled.
The Ethiopian federal government has historically oppressed minorities including Ogadenians, Benshangul, Harari, and Afar. Federal military forces rarely include local minorities, and parliamentary structures hold no real power. Within Abiy’s Prosperity Party, only two Somali members exist, without voting power, included merely to prevent rebellion.
In conclusion:
The U.S. and Western governments have supported Ethiopia for 100 years, funding monarchs and dictators. These rulers maintained power through oppression, and the wealth of Ethiopia has been captured by these elites. Today, Ethiopia remains a country where the majority cannot live freely, as minorities face systemic repression. Democracy is absent; rule is maintained through fear and ethnic domination.
The only solution is to liberate the oppressed peoples of Ethiopia: Amhara, Oromo, Tigray, Ogaden Somali, and all marginalized groups. Without freedom, Ethiopia will continue its cycle of violence and exploitation. True democracy and liberty, as envisioned by Western ideals, must be applied, granting these peoples the freedom to live peacefully and prosper.
