| Name |
Views and Comments | Date |
| Quixotis |
Wow, incredible! Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalo, (assuming you are in fact a doctor), you flatter me. I serendipitously came across this rebuttal while googling something else; I had forgotten about this altogether. But thank you for acknowledging me. Now I have something to do for the next 5 minutes.
True, I am an aid worker; and yes, I am a native English speaker. I served 2 yrs in Ethiopia, bouncing between both the Afar and Somali regions. In the Ogaden, I was based in Kebri Dehar. During my one year in Somalia, I was in Luq Ghanna.
I'm not going to waste my time refuting the 3,000 some-odd words you spit-out to rebut my ~200. Let it just be said that only a guilty mind would take so much time on such a small comment. You must have much to hide, Dr. Megalo (Manic?).
In closing, I had a good laugh at your pseudo intellectual psychoanalysis re: my moniker, Quixotis. It seems you have way too much time on your hands. Why don’t you get a job? Had you read the book, or at least made it to the end, and had you better things to do then try and dupe people, you might have known that upon Don Quixote's collapse (some might say awakening) he was resigned to give up his quest; however his levelheaded squire, Sancho, could not consent and suggested they take up a new life as simple shepards and change their names... Don Quixote becoming the simple shepard, Quixotis.
Maybe you, good Dr., should think about doing the same. Otherwise, I wish you ill chance in your war mongering. Good day. |
11/29/2008 |
| Madal |
Quixotis perhaps lived both in Somalia and Ethiopia as a humanitarian aid worker, but has not been to Ogaden region any time. Because, the number of expatriates who worked in the Ogaden as a humanitarian aid worker are known, and they all witnessed the bad plight of the poor people in the region. Quixotis said that OHRC is not by any means an objective, non-partisan body. What about International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Doctors Wthout Border (MSF), and others which the Ethiopian government kicked them off? Didn’t you read the last report of Human Rights Watch? OHRC is just like other human rights organisations reporting the human rights abuses in the Ogaden by the insane Ethiopian army. You should not be obsessed with the hatred and detestation you have towards Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) – 1985 –Present, which is struggling for their rights just like other liberation fronts before them, including Western Somali Liberation Front (WSLF) – 1976- 1982, Ogaden Liberation Front (OLF) 1960-1964, Nasrulah 1950 - 1960, Darvish Liberation Movements 1889 - 1921 which all did not accept the inhuman degrading treatment of the Somalis in the Horn of Africa by the colonialists. I would recommend Quixtis to go back to the history and comprehend more about the process, which the British handed over the last part of Howd and Reserve Area of the Ogaden region to Ethiopia in 1954, and why the United Nations - Ogaden Chapter considers the border between Somalia and Ethiopia as transitional line and not an international boundary. Unless Quixotis finds out why the UN gave the King of Norway a mandate to study under whose trusteeship the Ogaden will come either Ethiopia and Italy and what the outcome was in 1958, he is missing a lot more to value the reality in the Horn of Africa.
Seriously speaking, Quixotis doesn’t seem someone who worked as a humanitarian aid worker. Aid workers have moral obligations defending the rights of the pitiable people. But, he seems that he is abusing the name of being a humanitarian aid worker and my be an Ethiopian army officer hiding in an impossible shade. The name Ogaden Human Rights Committee is mentioned many times in the last report of Human Rights Watch – War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity In the Ogaden Area of Ethiopia. This shows that OHRC is a credible human rights organization, which does not want to swallow what Quixotis swallowed. The Ogaden Human Rights Committee is an independent, voluntary, non- political non-profit making organisation, founded on 13 June 1995, in Godey, Ogadenia, to monitor and promote the observance of internationally accepted human rights standards in the Ogaden. It investigates all allegations of human rights abuses, and when it is satisfied that the claim is authentic, documents it. I am from the Ogaden region and I worked in the Ogaden in different capacities for different organisations from being a lecturer, an aid worker, a UN Staff, up to a Regional Minister, I see OHRC as one of the most credible and trustworthy organization in exile. |
6/29/2008 |
| John |
It is true that Ethiopia is the only black coloniser in the history of black people but what surprised me is that they stil continue to this day in the Ogaden.
A very sad fact! |
6/29/2008 |
| Quixotis |
Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis is at best misleading and at worst out-right lying. The Ogaden Human Rights Committee (OHCR) is not by any means an objective, non-partisan body; it is fully controlled by the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF). The ONLF are a rebel faction taking arms against the government it resides among, i.e. Ethiopia, through it's militaristic (terrorist?) arm called the Ogaden National Liberation Army (ONLA).
Why? Because the ONLF claim that Ethiopia is an occupying government (the people of the Ogadan are primarily ethnic Somali's but have been part of Ethiopia since at least 1897). Yet, the Ogaden people are represented in the Ethiopian government, including by the opposition party SPDP - Somali Peoples Democratic Party.
It seems Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis is trying to re-ignite 13th & 14th century land disputes. It is widely known that the Ogaden conflict is more related to regional and international politics of religion - involving many stakeholders including the US, Egypt, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Sudan, Qatar and various Arab countries - rather than a local dispute.
I am neither Somali or Ethiopian but have lived and worked in both of those countries (including the Ogaden region) as a humanitarian aid-worker. |
6/28/2008 | |
