 AFP |
BAIDOA, Somalia (Reuters) - Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf resigned on Monday and blamed the international community for failing to support the interim government in the Horn of Africa nation.
Yusuf told parliament that speaker Sheikh Aden Madobe would take over his duties and left for the airport. It was not clear where he was going.
"As I promised when you elected me on October 14, 2004, I would stand down if I failed to fulfill my duty, I have decided to return the responsibility you gave me," Yusuf said.
"Most of the country was not in our hands and we had nothing to give our soldiers. The international community has also failed to help us," Yusuf told legislators in Baidoa, Somalia's seat of parliament.
The president of Somalia's fractured, Western-backed government had become increasingly unpopular at home and abroad and was blamed by Washington, Europe and African neighbors for stalling a U.N.-hosted peace process.
Diplomats in the region are likely to welcome Yusuf's decision. They have said it would provide an opportunity to form a new, broad-based government in Somalia and get the peace process back on track.
Some analysts, however, fear it could open a potentially violent period of political limbo, with feuding camps reviving clan militias in a power struggle -- at the same time an Islamist insurgency is camped on the outskirts of the capital.
Soldiers from neighboring Ethiopia have been propping up the government for the past two years, but there only some 3,000 soldiers left and Addis Ababa says they will leave soon.
The insurgency already controls most of southern Somalia outside the capital Mogadishu and Baidoa and analysts expect them to seize the rest when the Ethiopian troops pack up.
News of Abbabiya Abbaa Jobir's return to Ethiopia hit the Oromo Diaspora with a mixture of astonishment, surprise or as an expected event.
Meles Zenawi The OLF is an organization established in1973 by Oromo nationals to promote self-determination for the majority Oromo people against what they call "Ethiopia’s colonial rule" In January, a groups of mediators drawn from 3 Oromo-ethnic elders met OLF leaders namely Dawd Ebsa and Temam Yosuf in Amsterdam and signed with the rebel leaders a pact of agreement to come for peace talks under which the rebels agreed to accept Ethiopia’s constitution in principle. "Ethiopian PM, Meles Zenawi called us and told us in person that his country is ready to hold talks with OLF" Ambassador Birhanu Dinka, one of the elders and also former UN envoy to the great lakes region said. "Ethiopia agreed to come to negotiating table after the prime minister’s office looked deep into the Amsterdam’s pact of agreement reached between the three of us(elders) and the rebels last January" he added. After both parties agreed to start talks, the third party has been holding meetings with different influential people abroad and at home. Recently the elders group has hold two-day discussions with 125 most influential elders drawn from different zones of the Oromiya region under which they urged on the rebel to listen to his people and come to peace talks without any delay. Ethiopia has long designated the rebel group as a “terrorist” group and holds it responsible for a number of bomb blasts in the capital and in other southern towns. Another elder Priest Itefa Gobena to his side said that the peace talks will solve long suspicions of authorities over the Oromo for possible links to OLF. "A number of Oromo-national scholars, investors have been reluctant to return home and serve at home due the fears to what they hear at home” He said adding “The start is a major break through to bring an end to it” Recently Ethiopia has arrested a number of Oromo including an opposition leader for an alleged links to OLF “terror ring”. The elders on a declaration called on both sides to show a genuine commitment to narrow their political difference which put the rebel group into nearly two decades of insurgency.
Sunday, 11.09.2008, 02:29am
Oromo struggle is getting bitter from the length of time it is taking. Some veterans have retired without making much noise. Some are making efforts to phase out the OLF and give it a different direction quitting the original path. The injustice that was causing untold misery for over a century to the Oromo people was the reason for founding the OLF. That cause is still there adding more dimensions to the national suffering. The effort to water down Oromo struggle by some of its own creators in negligence of this reality did not produce the intended result so far except dividing the activists. To give OLF an Ethiopianist face several mediations, meetings and symposiums were carried out in foreign lands. The effort is still continuing to reverse the path of the struggle by changing tactics. But to succeed, no tactics has so far clicked with aspirations of the nation or win trust of the occupying power. The weakening of the OLF has for the time succeeded but its phasing out before liberation is getting unthinkable.
In the process quitter comrades have stepped into quagmire from which they are finding difficulty to extract themselves. Now they have devised a different tactic, a socio-political approach. Jarsummaa (elderliness) is an old Oromo institution for conflict resolution. Jaarsa (Elders) have great role in making peace and reconciling parties in conflict. Quitters of kaayyoo are trying to form a committee of Jaarsa under the pretext of resolving assumed conflicts. They are free to quit if they have no more guts left to fight it out. But these are not ordinary persons. They are still considered by so many as among leaders of the nation because of their role in the OLF.
For the sake of the people that have so far other expectations, they have to officially declare, they no more entertain the old idea espoused by the OLF and clear themselves from the movement. Such transparency will win them trust and appreciation in the short life left in them. It will not be enough to say we are not members of the leadership and so do not represent any organization. Making more sacrifices by being mavericks would have been heroic on their part. But running away from the cause they spent most of their adulthood life to try some amateurish political ventures would only hurt the Oromo people. The effect of The Hague meeting is already causing mass arrests while a member of the meeting is enjoying their enemy’s hospitality.
As learned later the difference in outlook within the Organization had been there for a long time. But no one dared to come out with it forcefully. Basically OLF was an amalgamation of persons of different backgrounds and possibly different outlooks. With all the differences they voluntarily formed a front with a political program acceptable to all. That was a political program to liberate Oromiyaa from alien occupation. It reflects the aspirations or kaayyoo of the nation. With time the organization was perforated. Different ideas and practices crept in through the holes. Articles of the program started to be interpreted to fit the revisionist trend and so more emphasis was put on referendum rather than independence. For others referendum is the means for asking national verdict on platforms to be presented by political organizations. As far as OLF is concerned it will be its program of independence on which referendum is conducted by the Oromo people to sanction their sovereignty, independence “Yes or No�
After several slow downs and sabotages there came a time for many to rethink, that was the time when arrangements were made to work in coalition with the colonizer. The colonial masters did not want to integrate the movement into the mainstream colonial system. OLF was ejected from the coalition. Attempts were made by international bodies to patch up the differences and get back the OLF to Ethiopian political life. In many cases the efforts were face saving devices for international community. Most were in favor minority dominance. For the OLF, as Oromo forebears say it was like searching for a lost ox with guidance of one who stole and slew it.
All those times OLF as an organization did not give up canvassing its ultimate goal as the liberation of Oromiyaa. But underground some members of the leadership to that as nuisance and were willing to give up the struggle for minor concession by the colonizer. That created behind the door dissensions. After a time it developed into an open conflict with activists divided into two groups, nationalist and Ethiopianists. Struggle against the common enemy came to stand still. Internecine campaigns took over. No group had come out victorious. None of them benefited from the conflict except enemy of the nation. The Ethiopianists tremendous efforts to reconcile with Ethiopian government did not bear fruit.
Since the crisis there was lack of harmony between Oromo Diaspora. Instead of taking the past leadership as those heroes who came to pay the ultimate sacrifices and elected by peers for their ability some started to brand them as individuals who got together on the basis of their locality. Some of the then leadership used this hate-based allegation to rally support for its purpose rather that putting things in their right perspective. It rather seemed a preplanned project to humiliate the Oromo as a nation. Though it might have affected those in Diaspora it did not influence the Oromo at home that was burning under enemy oppression, poverty, decease and hunger. There their destiny is wielded together with bonds of life and blood.
The enemy has studied the weak links of the nation. It has injected this into Oromo nationalist camp which was taken up by some fools without consideration of their long lasting effects. Why should the identity composition, if any, of a group that might have come together by accident or intentionally, be the cause to break up the organization? Are not national freedom fighter supposed to transcend such trivialities? Though degrees of cohesion varied all Oromo have ancestral background which is universal to all humankind. Is it not up to politicians to know the variation and orient their followers positively? Or are there other objectives behind this entire hullabaloo?
They claim to be proud of their Gadaa tradition but there has never been Gadaa without tribes. If they really believe in what they prophesy, why do not they apply it in resolving conflicts? To go public with regional and tribal differences and call names or throw distractive criticism emanates from backwardness. This shows what he could do to persons different from him if that person gets chance. Difference in matured society is based on issues. Development is achieved when different ideas clash. Difference fanned based on race and tribe stunts and also scatters. For this the solution is to grow and mature then only could one identify harmful and beneficial discourses.
Politicians should feel responsible not to pull traditional codes in such different setting as a foreign land against their own nationals. Otherwise the unity of the nation will be at stake. Innocent persons should not be made to feel, insecurity, humiliation and the possibility of rejection by primary groups, immersed in traditional ethos against their conscience. That benefits only the alien at the cost of own people. The revision of the kaayyoo is revealing the immaturity of the leadership that intened to promote it. They have presented the Oromo struggle as if it was an internal sectarian struggle. The sectors have nothing to gain by turning the struggle inward but if they fight the occupier together they have country, freedom, resources and pride to win. That is why those who went before them made the ultimate sacrifices.
Past mistakes have lead to present crisis and misunderstandings. What ever has happened Shanee had broken up further. All tactics used so far did not lead it anywhere. For this reason the gurus of Shanee started to look for other way out. Down in their own hearts whatever diversion they make they might have thought is tactic towards the goal. But for the observer and analyst it is playing into enemy hands. Several justifiable interpretations and name-callings can emerge from such observations and analysis. This time the “tactic†took them to The Hague meeting. Before The Hague there were several attempts to take Shanee home. But they were always unexpected obstacles and procrastinations that led to the schism in Shanee. It was at this time that a group with “jaarsaa brand†supposedly with blessing from Wayyaanee arrived in USA to facilitate a way back for Shanee. But Shanee was no more there as a unit.
What was amazing was that this “jaarsaa†were Oromo who are in a position to know how the country is being run. They are ones who daily experience what is perpetrated on Oromo masses and also on Oromo organizations that had submitted to work with the colonial masters. They have seen when some Oromo “jarsaa†are humiliated in public even though they are collaborating. Why are they inviting “Oromo icons†for further humiliation? Are they genuine jarsaa or quislings? Oromo elders were supposed to uphold Oromo honor in the face of alien assault not to entice the Oromo to dishonorably surrender. On their part they might have acted in good faith and out of concern. But seen from their age, education and experience sheer opportunism cannot be ruled out. That being as it may this group went back for further consultation. They later came back changing the debate from political to sociopolitical throwing lifeline for Shanee and Co to catch.
At The Hague the said elders added some persons from the committee that reconciled leaders of CUD with the government and three persons that had played great role in founding OLF.The idea of democratizing Ethiopia was pushed to the back and now the slogan is to organize elders (Councilors) and search for conflict to be resolved among the people. It is customary for neighbors to quarrel on grazing and water sources. For that they have a traditional solution and need no expertise from outside. What they need is one who could liberate them from being looked down and being plundered by aliens. One who could prevent enemy hand that fans their small differences and flares up conflict between them? They are waiting for one who could challenge the enemy not one who distracts them from their decades old struggle.
The Oromo will live according to orders of the dictators not according to its own will as long as it is under alien rule. What those from The Hague say is not that they will help the Oromo to realize its right to self-determination but that they will tame them to be good subjects to the occupiers. The Oromo had understood each other well through their struggle, on matters of their kaayyoo of liberation and their unity. To say we will raise their understandings to higher level is preposterous and ignorance of the consciousness level they have attained.
Up until now the Oromo had no conflict caused by their differences. They have neither history nor ability to hurt aliens living amongst them. The Oromo had never risen against aliens living with them intentionally except by provocation of enemy agents. They could talk about restructuring their administration only if they were liberated. Until then it is up to the learned nationals to study relevance of the Gadaa for to be liberated Oromiyaa. As it stands now except obeying colonial system it has no right to adopt a system of its choice. For this reason, this tactic has also defect as all before it. If government is willing to give them such free hand as they propose why are thousands in prisons suspected for being free thinkers? Why is it not allowing equal participation and free and fair elections to parties that work with it? What is peculiar about The Hague elders?
Why are Oromo ‘politicians’ refusing to learn from experience? The unwillingness of Wayyaanee to tolerate any peaceful approach was seen now and again. It is ready to arraign with falls allegations any body who falls into its hand. When this writer was sent by OLF to attend a peace conference it was not without the blessing of international community. That did not save him from incarceration. Who ever is behind The Hague actors it is not in the nature of Wayyaanee to budge. Let us pray that these “jarsaa†rethink and go back to the old line and save the struggle and honor of their people. One may die but once to die in humiliation is a double death where one will not be allowed to rest in peace for ever like Goobana Daccee and Vidkun Quisling of Norway.
Any one who wants to go and work with Ethiopian government is free to do so without attachment to any thing OLF. There are millions that had vowed to uphold the kaayyoo of Bilisummaa and no chance to serve under different objective. If the Oromo do not abandon the quest for freedom there is no use for the enemy embracing quitters of OLF. OLF is indivisible. To use the name there is no alternative other than uniting it if divided, and mending it if broken and move with it forward. The Hague meeting is no different from the tactics tried previously to replace the original kaayyoo for which OLF stands. So it shall fail and the struggle continues.
Honor and glory for the fallen heroines and heroes; liberty equality and freedom for the living and nagaa and araaraa for the Ayyaanaa of our forefathers!
Ibsaa Guutama
November 2008
Ibsaa Guutama is a member of the generation that drew the first Political program of the OLF.
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It is reported that the current TPLF/EPRDF regime of Meles Zenawi is hiding the rampant starvation of the Oromo population just as the Haile Sillasie regime of the “King of kings” hide the famine of 1972-1974. It is well documented that the current regime not only hides the widespread famine in the country in general and that of Oromia in particular, but also uses the famine for political purposes; namely, distributing the donated supply only to those who agree or pledge political support for his rule.
The Oromo people is aware that the current Meles Zenawi regime is committed to eradicate them from that part of the world by any means including : famine, disease, war (tribal conflict within the Oromo or ethnic conflict between the Oromo and other neighbouring people).
Last updated: 9:21 pm
October 27, 2008
Posted: 4:50 pm
October 27, 2008
Two young neo-Nazi skinheads plotted to don white tuxes and top hats as they slaughtered Barack Obama - an attack they hoped would cap their killing of 88 black people around the country, including the beheading of 14, officials said today.
"They said that would be their last, final act - that they would attempt to kill Sen. Obama," said Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent Jim Cavanaugh. "They didn't believe they would be able to do it, but that they would get killed trying."
Daniel Cowart, 20, and Paul Schlesselman, 18, "planned to drive their vehicle as fast as they could toward Obama, shooting at him from the windows," according a criminal complaint filed in Jackson, Tenn., federal court.
"Both individuals stated they would dress in all-white tuxedos and wear top hats during the assassination attempt," the court complaint says. "Both individuals further stated they knew they would and were willing to die during this attempt."
Officials said they were treating the threats seriously - but ABC News quoted an Obama aide as saying the Democratic nominee's Secret Service detail hadn't been given a heads-up about the alleged plot.
In the criminal complaint, the feds said the two skinheads met online about a month ago through a mutual friend and found they had a shared interest in neo-Nazism.
They started plotting to knock over a gun shop and attack a heavily black high school somewhere in Tennessee, though they apparently didn't name one.
They also traded diagrams and photos of what appeared to be a gun shop in Tennessee, the complaint said.
And in numbers significant in the skinhead world, they planned to shoot 88 black people and behead 14 of them.
The number "88" is equated with "HH," initials for "Heil Hitler." "H" is the eighth letter of the alphabet.
Fourteen signifies the number of words in the white supremacist credo, "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children."
"They seemed determined to do it," Cavanaugh, an ATF agent in charge of the bureau's Nashville office, told The Associated Press. "Even if they were just to try it, it would be a trail of tears around the South."
After the Tennessee slayings, the two junior skinheads planned to go on a national murder spree and conclude with Obama's assassination, according to Cavanaugh.
The plot started to unravel on Oct. 21, when the pair went to a house they planned to rob - but balked because they saw two cars and a dog. Instead, they went to a Wal-Mart, where they stocked up on food, nylon rope and ski masks that they planned to use in their killing spree, the complaint said.
Early the next day, Oct. 22, they covered Cowart's car with swastikas and the number 88 using window chalk, the complaint said - which apparently attracted attention, since the Crockett County Sheriff's Office busted them later that night.
The Obama campaign declined to comment.
Cowart, 20, of Bells, Tenn., and Schlesselman 18, of West Helena, Ark., are being held without bond.
Officials took three pistols, a sawed-off shotgun and a rifle off the two men when they were busted. They were allegedly preparing to bust into a gun store and steal more ammo for the spree.
They have been charged with possessing an unregistered firearm, conspiring to steal firearms from a licensed gun seller, and threatening a presidential candidate.
On his MySpace page, Cowart listed his favorite books as "Swastika," "Hitman," "The God Delusion," "God's Debris," "The Other Bible," and favorite movies ranging from "Hitman" to "Office Space."
New York Post
By Jason McLure and Hamsa Omar
Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Ethiopian soldiers will begin a phased withdrawal from neighboring Somalia next month following the signing of a cease-fire agreement between the Somali transitional government and a faction of the main opposition.
Ethiopian troops will start pulling out of the capital, Mogadishu, and the central town of Beledweyne on Nov. 21, according to a copy of yesterday's agreement e-mailed by United Nations Envoy Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah's office today. They will be replaced by peacekeepers from the African Union and militias loyal to Somalia's government and the opposition Alliance for the Re-Liberation, or ARS, of Somalia.Full report
 Al-shabaab fighters |
HARGEISA, Somalia Oct 22 (Garowe Online) - Authorities in Somalia's self-declared Republic of Somaliland transferred custody of an Oromo detainee over to the Ethiopian government, a rights worker told Garowe Online.
The Oromo man, named Mohamed Ahmed, went missing from the Somaliland capital of Hargeisa where he lived on October 15.
Saleban Ismail Bulale, director of local human rights organization Horn Watch, told Garowe Online that Mr. Ahmed's relatives contacted him about the missing man.
He indicated that Horn Watch investigated the matter and discovered that Mr. Ahmed was in the custody of Somaliland authorities, who did not formally charge him with a crime.
"They [authorities] refused to discuss the matter with us," Mr. Bulale said, while condemning the Somaliland administration for extraditing a civilian over to the Ethiopian government, where he could be tortured.
The Oromo people are an ethnic group in Ethiopia, some of whom have been fighting against Addis Ababa for self-determination of "Or
The Oromo people, an ethnic group that lives in Ethiopia in big numbers, have been fighting Addis Ababa for self-determination rights for their home region for decades.
In recent years, Somaliland authorities have been accused of extraditing ethnic Somalis whom Addis Ababa suspects are supporters of the Ogaden insurgency in eastern Ethiopia.
Somaliland officials did not respond to our inquiries for comment.
Source: Garowe Online
News of Abbabiya Abbaa Jobir's return to Ethiopia hit the Oromo Diaspora with a mixture of astonishment, surprise or as an expected event.
NAIROBI, 17 October 2008 (IRIN) - At least two people have been killed and scores wounded amid fresh inter-clan fighting in the northeastern region of Mandera, a month after clashes there over water displaced hundreds.
Photo: Melvin Chibole/ActionAid 
Pastoralists water their livestock in Mandera: Clan clashes in the region are adding to the plight of those displaced by recent flooding
"Fighting broke out on 16 October between members of the Garre and Murule clans over land that people displaced by flooding in Mandera town had settled on temporarily," Titus Mung'ou, a Kenya Red Cross Communications Officer, said.
At least 10,000 people have been displaced after heavy rains this week in the region and in parts of neighboring southern Somalia.
 Civilians have been caught in the crossfire in Mogadishu |
Heavy fighting has left at least 20 people dead and dozens more injured in clashes across the Somali capital, Mogadishu, officials and witnesses say.
Islamist insurgents have been engaged in fierce battles with government troops and their Ethiopian allies, and both sides suffered casualties.
Five people were also reported killed when a mortar hit their house.
Correspondents say it is the fiercest fighting for several weeks and has engulfed three separate districts. Read more
"Salphoo soqolatee, soqolaa gargaaru" jedha Oromoon
October 10, 2008 (ADDIS ABABA) — A breakaway faction of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) will resume soon talks in Addis Ababa with a negotiating team drawn from Ethiopian elders.
The agreement was reached after an Ethiopian negotiating team led by Professor Efrem Yisahk held first round talks with the OLF leaders in the Netherlands.
During their first round talks which stayed 3 days from sep19-21, the negotiating team including Ethiopian Ambassador to Netherland and Pastor Daniel Gebreslase, has met and discussed with OLF top leaders including Lencho Leta, Ababya Aba-jabir and Dima Nego.
After the discussion The OLF leaders have agreed to hold second round talks at home in the near future.
The governments of Netherland, Norway and Germany have helped financially for the success of the talks.
The move is hailed by politicians as a big step forward in bringing national reconciliation.
In July 2007, Ethiopia granted amnesty to 38 opposition figures, including several CUD members and leaders, convicted of inciting violence following disputed general elections were released after having been in detention since the elections of 2005
Professor Efrem Yisahk was one of the former amnesty committee who enabled a successful negotiation for the release of those opposition figures who were expecting at least life sentence for an alleged post-election violence that left scores dead.
Two months ago OLF branch in Asmara has encountered internal division on its leadership which divided it into two albeit.
The OLF National Council, in a press release issued on October 5, accused the splinter group of usurping the OLF leadership by "unconstitutional means."
The National Council also called for the unity of Oromo organisation and urged them to stand up against all actions to undermine the Oromo interests.
Established in1973, Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), fights for the liberation of the southern Oromo region, alleging government discriminates the Oromos, largest ethnic people of the nation.
source: Sudan Tribune
Related news: Shane Qinijit leaders coming to Addis
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| Somaliweyn |
These Ethiopian troops were fully militarily equipped, and a member Luq district administration who was speaking to Somaliweyn radio, and willing his name not to be disclosed, said that he met with an officer from the
“we are from long journey all the way from Hiran region coming down to Bakool region, and eventually in Gedo as you can see, but I am not intending to reveal our actual destination that is all I can tell you sir” said the Ethiopian officer.
“What I have seen was in fact amazing I saw large number of Ethiopian troops with their armored personnel carriers, and tanks crossing the old Italian built bridge, a battalion of the Ethiopian had a base in Luq and they used to come and go as they wish, and they are not dealt with the way they are dealt with when they are in some parts of the country such as Mogadishu, Baidoa, and Baladweyn here it is cool for them” said Farah Garad a resident in Luq district in Gedo region.
On the other hand Colonel Bare Hirale, the Colonel ousted from the strategic town of Kismayu is mobilizing his tribal militiamen in Dolow district which 75KM from Luq district in order to take control of Kismayu town once again.
Mohammed Omar Hussein
shiinetown@hotmail.com
Salim Awadh is talking to me from inside a cell somewhere in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
There are seven other prisoners kept in the same small, dark room, he starts to tell me.
 Kenya's government has long seen Somalia as a haven for terrorists |
"The conditions are really bad: we don't have enough food, we don't have enough access to medicine. The cell is wet," he says.
"We sleep on the floor rather than the sodden mattresses. One of the other prisoners was beaten so badly he's had his leg broken."
Salim is able to speak to me because he has bribed a guard and got access to a mobile phone.
For weeks I have been trying to find out information about him and other detainees in what has been called "Africa's Guantanamo". It is a story the governments involved do not want to talk about: The first mass rendition of terrorist suspects in Africa.
In January 2007, Ethiopian troops had taken control of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, ousting the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), an Islamist movement which had controlled much of southern Somalia for the previous six months.
 |  They tried to force me to admit that my husband was a terrorist. They said I had to tell them the truth or they would strangle me  Fatma Chande |
"I was kept in a cell with other women. Then the Kenyan anti-terrorist police questioned me - they asked me why we went to Somalia," Fatma says.full report
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| AFP |
ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — At least three people were killed and some 20 injured Sunday in an explosion in Ethiopia's eastern Somali province, which local authorities believe was a terrorist attack, the police chief said.
"We now have some 20 people injured in addition to the three dead ones," Yusuf Mahmud Mussai, the police chief of the Somali province, told AFP by telephone.
"It definitely was a terrorist attack, a bomb was planted in the area," he said, adding that so far one suspect has been detained.
The blast occurred near a hotel in Jijiga, Ethiopian federal police spokesman Demsash Hailu told AFP.
"I suspect it is a terrorist action because we have some problems in this area. But there is an investigation opened. We'll look into the matter to confirm if it is a terrorist action or an accidental explosion," Hailu said.
The Somali province includes the region of Ogaden, which has been hit by a series of attacks attributed to separatist rebels in recent years.
The Ethiopia military launched in May 2007 an operation against the Ogaden Nation Liberation Front (ONLF), which is seeking autonomy for the remote region bordering Somalia.
Related news: Reuters South Africa
"The Horn of Africa region is facing the worst humanitarian crisis since 1984, and Ethiopia is caught in the middle," said WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran in a statement issued in Nairobi.
"We know what needs to be done - we just need the funds to go out and do our job, protecting the hungry."
The world's largest humanitarian lifeline said around a quarter of those in need, some 2 million people, live in the arid Somali Region of Ethiopia where it has not rained for three years.watch video
The communities in the region have already lost half of their cattle herds. People are skipping meals and parents are pulling children out of school so that they can help to beg in towns or scour the countryside for food.
"Millions of people are in extreme distress and urgently need food and nutrition," said Sheeran.
WFP said it's also facing a similar humanitarian challenge in neighboring Somalia, where 3.25 million people, almost half the population, have been affected by drought, high food prices and conflict.
Ninety percent of WFP's food deliveries to Somalia arrive by sea, but attacks by pirates are disrupting supply lines and discouraging ship owners from making the journey.
 A new system of aid delivery is being put in place |
Emergency food aid is not getting out fast enough to the people who need it in Ethiopia's troubled Somali region, a top US official says.
Michael Hess, of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), says only 41% of the food allocated for July has reached its intended recipients.
The US supplies nearly all of the aid, and Mr Hess says such distribution is not good enough.
Ethnic Somali rebels have been fighting an insurgency in the region for years.
In a drought like this one, Ethiopia depends heavily on food aid - and that means that it depends on the generosity of the US.
As the man in charge of this aid, Mr Hess has been to see for himself how the system is working.
Big changes expected
Ethiopia's Somali region does have particular problems.
An armed rebellion and an army counter-insurgency operation have been going on for more than a year across the centre of the region.read more
