Ethiopia arrests 309 'rebel cops'
2008-02-19 07:17
Addis Ababa - More than 300 police officers suspected of links with separatists rebels have been arrested in Ethiopia's restive Ogaden region as part of a government crackdown, say reports.
Regional police commissioner Yussuf Mohammed was quoted as saying: "At least 309 police officers suspected of having links with the anti-peace elements of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) have been apprehended."
Yussuf did not give a time span, but said "rebel hideouts" and communication avenues had been "wiped out" by government forces.
"We are in a position to completely destroy the ONLF in a very short period of time," he said.
The Ethiopian army launched a crackdown in the region after ONLF rebels launched an attack on a Chinese oil venture in April last year, leaving 77 people dead, including nine Chinese.
The barren Ogaden region had long been extremely poor, but the discovery of gas and oil brought new hopes and fuelled conflict.
Formed in 1984, the ONLF was fighting for independence for ethnic Somalis in the Ogaden, whom they said had been marginalised by the government in Addis Ababa.