Unprecedented level of violence not seen since August has erupted across the city of Diridaba in the Ogaden’s Shiniile province as tit for tat skirmishes erupted into a full blown onslaught.
According to local contacts over the past 48 hours dozens of Somali homes have been burned and leveled to the ground by Xenophobic Oromo mobs throughout the city of Diridaba, with the heaviest tole afflicting the Gandagrada and Sheekh Xabib neighborhood’s. Eyewitnesses reveal Oromo mobs backed by unidentified armed men (Paramilitary militias) went on a rampage and looted and ransacked dozens of Somali owned businesses.
Hundreds of Somalis have fled there homes and left everything behind as fanatical paramilitaries and mobs hailing from the neighboring Oromo Regional State launch a vicious onslaught against the indigenous Somali population. Eyewitnesses reveal Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) are taking part in the xenophobic violence by indiscriminately opening fire on unarmed civilians just for being Somali.
Two well known Somali owned hotels in the city (Hotel Bile & Hotel Grany) have also been looted and burned. Many Somalis after being forced to flee there homes have taken refuge with friends and relatives throughout the city not knowing if they’ll ever return to there homes, with a string of arrests in the Sheekh Xabib neighborhood topping at least 55.
The recent wave of violence in Diridaba has repeated the same trends scene in other volatile places on the Ogaden-Oromo border. There is never a condemnation or a slight acknowledgement of wrong doing from the elders, intellects, religious scholars, community leaders and activists from the Oromo community when fanatical paramilitaries and xenophobic mobs massacre Somalis. It’s as if the entire Oromo community is criminally complicit in covering up the heinous onslaught waged against Somalis or simply numb to reality.
We will keep you updated with the latest developments and updates from the region.
Halgan Media
