Ogaden
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Ogadēn is a part of the Somali Region in Ethiopia. Historically, Ogadēn was sometimes known as Abyssinian Somaliland. Ogadēni nationalists refer to it as Ogadēnia and state that it is a separate nation currently under Ethiopian occupation. The Ogadēni people are predominantly ethnic Somali and Muslim.
The region, which is 369,000 square kilometres, borders Djibouti, Kenya, and Somalia, and has a population of seven million people. It was colonized by Great Britain as a protectorate from the last quarter of the 19th century to the first half of the 20th century, before it was annexed by Ethiopia.
In the past, secessionist activities have involved the political goals and militaries of Ethiopia and Somalia. In the late 1970s, both countries fought the Ogadēn War over control of this region and its peoples. At present, the main separatist group is the Ogadēn National Liberation Front (ONLF) under its Chairman Mohamed O. Osman.
Ogadēn is at the center of the volatile Horn of Africa. Prominent Ogadēni include:
- Somali poet and nationalist Sayid Mohamed Abdille Hassan
- Garad Maktal Dahir, founder of the ONLF
- Mohamed Dirie Urdoh, leader of the Western Somali Liberation Front