A wave of cross border attacks have besieged the Somali border town of Tuliguuleed within the past few days, which have left scores of Somalis dead and wounded, with the most recent attack to have taken place in the farming village of Daraami situated on the cusp of Tuliguuleed.
According to local contacts heavily armed Oromo gunmen launched an assault targeting the village of Daraami and began indiscriminately opening fire.
Once the smoke cleared, one person was laying in a pool of blood after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds to the upper torso. Local residents have identified the victim as Guled Abdikarim.
The Halgan Media service desk has obtained a photo of the victim from his family members, which is pictured below.
Guled Abdikarin
Following the cowardly attack, the locals in Tuliguuleed prepared to stage protests to condemn the indiscriminate cross border attacks by Oromo militiamen. The protests where derailed after the Somali Regional State deployed Liyuu Police paramilitary contingents to the town in a bid to discourage any demonstrations that would leave a stain on the image of president Mustafa Cagjar (Omar).
The locals in Tuliguuleed didn’t take this lightly and where angered by this move. The Somali Regional State where quick to deploy troops when they got wind of upcoming protests, while turning a blind eye over the years as the towns residents where routinely and indiscriminately attacked by armed Oromo militias and paramilitary units.
As a result, the residents in Tuliguuleed staged stay-at-home protests, which led to residents in the town closing there shops and remaining in doors. This form of protest has been witnessed in the past in other parts of the Ethiopian federation but not the Somali region until now, which shows how local residents are fed up with the ruling government in the region.
Except for a few goats and children running in the distance, the residents in there entirety remained in doors. Authorities in the Somali regional state responded by implementing a curfew over the town, which is bound to make things worse and only embolden the population of Tuliguuleed in the coming days.
Halgan Media has obtained photos from the Somali border town of Tuliguuleed showing the effects of the stay-at-home protests, which are pictured below.
On a similar note, an attack targeting the Somali border town of Tuliguuleed unfolded this past weekend as well. This time more deadly as five Somalis where left wounded, while a sixth person died in a hail a bullets when heavily armed Oromo gunmen overran the village of Godane, situated outside of Tuliguuleed.
Local contacts have identified the the name of the victim, which is listed below.
- Mustafa Abdi Jalil
The recent uptick in violent cross border raids targeting the town of Tuliguuleed in the Somali region (Ogaden) can be attributed to a number of factors. The most obvious being the state sanctioned policy of displacing and uprooting Somalis from there land, which has been egged on in the past by both Oromo regional officials and those at the federal level.
This has led to over one million Somalis being violently displaced from there homes in 2018 alone and as a result nearly 50% of the current IDP’s in Ethiopia are Somali despite the Somalis being less than 10% of the national population. However the policy of displacing Somalis didn’t end in 2018 but continues til this day and the recent wave of attacks targeting Tuliguuleed are case in point.
To make matters worse, the Somali regional state led by president Mustafa Cagjar (Omar) continues to turn a blind eye to the atrocities unfolding in Tuliguuleed, despite the town of Tuliguuleed being a mere 25 kilometers from the capital Jigjiga.
Many of the locals in Tuliguuleed that spoke with Halgan Media on condition of anonymity firmly believe the criminal negligence of president Mustafa Omar is empowering further attacks targeting Tuliguuleed at the hands of these violent and often fanatical right wing Oromo paramilitary units and militia groups.
Halgan Media.
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