ONLF accuses Ethiopia of breaching 2018 peace deal as Somali Region tensions rise
The plan seeks to ensure Somalis "are not passive victims of Ethiopia's unfolding political crisis but active participants in protecting their national rights and shaping their collective future".
The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) has issued its strongest criticism of Ethiopia's federal government since signing the 2018 Peace Agreement, accusing Addis Ababa of "fully and deliberately" breaching the accord and reinstating repression in the Somali Region.
In a communiqué dated November 15, 2025, the ONLF said the government had abandoned all political commitments made under the deal.
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Instead of enabling peaceful participation, "the regime has escalated repression. ONLF members have been harassed, detained, and targeted; organisational offices have been raided or closed; and Somali communities across the Ogaden continue to face surveillance, intimidation, and systematic rights violations".
The group, which renounced armed struggle in 2018, announced a shift to a "renewed political and diplomatic posture" and adopted a new Strategic Roadmap aimed at mobilising communities.
The plan seeks to ensure Somalis "are not passive victims of Ethiopia's unfolding political crisis but active participants in protecting their national rights and shaping their collective future".
The ONLF also emphasised the "indispensable role" of the global Somali diaspora, pledging to reorganise its sixty-plus chapters to strengthen international advocacy and counter disinformation.
Diplomatically, the movement plans to intensify engagement with the UN, AU, IGAD and rights groups, arguing that violations in the Ogaden must be consistently raised at international forums.
In a significant step, the ONLF endorsed the Multinational Transition Roadmap advanced by exiled Ethiopian opposition groups, which calls for a transitional forum, a Transitional Charter, proportional representation of all nations, and independent institutions for elections and peace-building. Ethiopia's "repeated cycles of centralised domination," it said, have produced "only conflict and collapse."
The communiqué also accused the government of manipulating the recent census in the Somali Region, forcibly recruiting 20,000 Somali youths for military operations, and executing water-diversion and boundary-manipulation projects that threaten Somali communities.
The statement concludes: "The Somali people are not alone... The struggle continues, stronger, clearer, and more resolute than ever."
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