Open Letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon: Freedom for Ogaden!

Your Excellency,

You know very well that Islamic Terrorism is a real threat. In 2001-2002, you facilitated the prompt adoption of the first resolution of the session, condemning the September 11th terrorist attacks, and in addition you undertook a certain number of related initiatives.

You are aware of various attempts that for various reasons failed to contain or uproot this phenomenon.

You understand only too well that discontent runs high in various parts of the Middle East and Africa because of earlier violation of Human Rights, with various historical nations being still denied the Right to Independence, Self-Determination, Democratic Rule, and Peaceful Progress.

This situation is even more explosive in the case of Abyssinia, a tyrannical abode that before some decades usurped the Historical Name of Ethiopia that describes the Ancient Kushite Empire of Meroe in what is modern Sudan's north.

In that tyrannical abode that, after a medieval, anachronistic monarchy, experienced a monstrous pro-Soviet uni-partite system, a masquerade of federalism helps now one tribe tyrannize the outright majority that consists of various peoples.

Taken into consideration the propinquity with Somalia, the 'Ethiopian' intervention in Mogadishu, and the Somali link with Islamic Terrorism, the case of the oppressed Ogadenis becomes a most urgent affair.

Ogaden is a traditional Muslim African state that presents a great historical record of achievements spanning over millennia of Eastern African interconnectedness with Indonesia, India, Iran, Central Asia, the Red Sea world, and the Mediterranean. Its area was not unknown to great Roman and Greek erudite scholars and explorers, merchants and adventurers.

Ogaden was never asked to merge with the Amhara dominated kingdom in the middle of the 20th century, when the European powers' antagonism was transferred to other continents with the nefarious colonial results that I do not to enumerate here.

Ogadenis face a genocidal strategy devised at their prejudice by the Tigray dominated present Meles Zenawi government. Extrajudicial killings, arrests, extensive practice of torture, national denigration and religious denigrations carried out against them over many long decades alienated them completely from a totalitarian state where they never felt they belong, and where they were never asked to adhere.

Ogaden aspires to Freedom, Independence and Democracy, and their liberation and national emancipation would offer the UN a fresh and moderate member state with a tolerant culture that would soon turn out to be a key element in promoting among the Muslim World the traditional, tolerant Vision of African Islam.

Islamic extremism as perversely taught and professionally exported from various Middle Eastern 'universities' – ateliers of terror has not yet reached Ogaden.

And I am sure you will agree with me that there is no need that it ever does.

The Ogadenis are a real nation in today's world. If independent, they would outnumber the Norwegians and the Singaporeans. National Identity emanates from Culture, Language, Religion and History, various expressions of a people’s material life, and determines a specific nation as clearly different from another, neighboring.

With the formation of a new Ogaden Republic, basic nation-building needs will be fervently met by the Ogadenis: central bank and national currency, central administration, government, police, army, health system, primary and secondary education, universities, museums, tourism, sports, etc.

Ogaden now demand international recognition in terms of International Law, Human Rights, Democracy, National Identity, etc. Certainly, the concept itself of the ‘nation’ is relatively recent in the World History, and in any case ‘Nations’ do not antedate the Lumieres philosophers, and the 18th century Age of Enlightenment, when it was stipulated that ‘political power’ should be conferred on ‘the people’. But in the case of Ogaden, the national identification goes certainly earlier.

It was widely propagated that the nation does not derive from a ‘monarch’, and in this way the various ‘peoples’ of the world should be (and after two centuries of fights and struggles finally got) independent of the contingencies of dynastic or military history.

The 'Nation' as new concept in the World History contributed a lot to the rise of Democratic Rule, but relied heavily on History, Historicity, and what could be described for an entire people as ‘Loyalty to the Past’.

In Europe, nations have been formed around two opposing concepts: the French concept, based on free, rational allegiance of the individual to a political collectivity, and the German concept of objectively determined membership of an organic body. However, most of the European nations have been formed on the basis of a mixture of these two concepts, although the proportions have varied according to the political and social context.

In all the cases, ‘Loyalty to the Past’ played a key role, and at times, when the poor educational conditions of a people did not allow a high degree of Historical Conscience and National Identity would not easily hinge on ‘Loyalty of the Past’ intellectuals and erudite scholars from other countries made theirs the role of National Awakener. The case of the French Claude Fauriel for Modern Greece and Greek National Historicity is quite indicative.

Demonstrating Loyalty to their Past, the Ogadenis ask you to consider and advocate a UN imposed and monitored Referendum for National Independence and Democratic Social Organization in tyrannical Ethiopia's destitute Ogaden.

Helping the Ogadenis obtain a respectable place among the UN will gain to your Cause numerous African, Asiatic and European peoples who still strive for Independence. It will also give you the necessary tools to advance in the fight against Islamic Terrorism.

Without the need for unilateral interventions that will not have the UN stamp!

Your Excellency,

Your country's flag evolves around the Yin - Yang concept; cornerstone of Taoism, this great symbol can be a real motif of inspiration for you as regards the Noble Cause of Ogaden.

The Yin days must have an end, and the Ogadenis deserve to enjoy a White – Yang era of Justice and Progress, within this eternal recapitulation of the two forces' fight.

Yours Faithfully,

Prof. Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis