Ethiopia Says Rebel Group Responsible for UN Worker’s Death
May 15, 2011, 11:46 AM EDTBy William Davison
(Updates with official’s comment in third paragraph.)
May 15 (Bloomberg) -- An Ethiopian rebel group has denied government allegations that it was responsible for the killing of a United Nations’ World Food Programme worker.
Members of the Ogaden National Liberation Front attacked WFP workers in the eastern Somali Region, Bereket Simon, the African nation’s head of communications, said by phone today from Addis Ababa, the capital. A driver was killed, another worker was injured and two are missing following a May 13 attack, the WFP said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.
“It was terrorists,” Bereket said. “Remnants of the ONLF.” The ONLF denied it was involved with the ambush and accused the state of trying to use the killing to persuade the U.K. government to act against it. The “cold-blooded and cowardly” killing was carried out by Ethiopian security forces, it said in an e-mailed statement today.
The ONLF has been fighting for self-determination for the people of the Ogaden, a region that borders Somalia since 1984. The government and the rebels regularly accused each other of atrocities and claim military victories. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s administration signed a cease-fire with a faction of the group in October and released 402 rebels from prison in January.
All the workers attacked were Ethiopians, Judith Schuler, WFP’s spokesman in the Horn of Africa nation said by phone today.
--Editors: Gordon Bell, Raj Rajendran
To contact the reporter on this story: William Davison in Addis Ababa at wdavison3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net
