 alleges arbitrary detention of two of its senior officials in the Nogob Zone, Ethiopia.){kind=link}
By: Getahun Tsegaye
Staff Reporter
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) issued a press release today, June 20, 2025, condemning the alleged arbitrary detention of two of its senior officials in the Nogob Zone. The ONLF states that Ayanle Yasiin Budul, Chair of the Nogob Zone chapter, and Bashir Cismaan Budul, Head of the Elweyne District chapter, have been held incommunicado for three weeks following a raid on the ONLF’s office in Elweyne.
According to the ONLF, armed personnel stormed their Elweyne office, assaulted the officials, and transported them to an undisclosed detention facility without a warrant, charge, or due process. During the raid, the office was reportedly ransacked and the ONLF flag was destroyed. The elderly mother of a former ONLF fighter, who owns the building, was also allegedly arrested and held for a week on a “baseless accusation of renting premises to ONLF” before her release.
The ONLF identified several officials it claims are directly responsible for ordering or supervising the raid and arrests. These include Abdirisaaq Mohamed-Nour, Head of Nogob Zone Administration and a Prosperity Party (PP) member; Mohamed Shukri Sagal, Head of the PP Chapter in Nogob Zone; Anab Ali Sulub, Head of the PP Chapter in Elweyne District; Abdirashid (“Ilkacase”), District Attorney for Elweyne; and Abdullahi (“Qubbi”), Commander of the Elweyne District Police. The ONLF further alleges these officials acted on direct orders from Somali Regional State President Mustafa Omar, appointed by the Prosperity Party.
The ONLF views this incident as part of a wider pattern of intimidation, which it claims intensified after the ONLF publicly criticized the federal government’s failure to honor the 2018 peace agreement. The group also expressed concern over what it describes as the federal government’s unilateral effort to install a surrogate party across the Somali Region, a practice the ONLF states mirrors a longstanding pattern of successive Ethiopian administrations hand-picking regional leaders, thereby undermining the constitutional right to genuine self-rule for the Somali people and other nationalities.
In response, the ONLF has issued several demands: the immediate and unconditional release of Ayanle Yaasiin Budul and Bashiir Cismaan Budul; restoration of their Elweyne office and replacement of all confiscated or destroyed property; an independent investigation into the conduct of the named officials with accountability in accordance with the law; cessation of all political intimidation against ONLF members and supporters throughout the Somali Region; and respect for the 2018 peace agreement and the constitutional guarantee of regional self-administration.
The ONLF is also calling on domestic human-rights institutions, regional bodies, and international partners to monitor the detainees’ welfare, demand access for legal counsel and family members, press Ethiopian authorities to comply with their obligations, and support an impartial fact-finding mission to document ongoing political repression in the Somali Region.
As of this article’s publication, there has been no response from the Somali regional state government nor from the federal government.
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