UN calls for probe into alleged war crimes in Ogaden, Ethiopia

A United Nations fact-finding mission to the troubled Ethiopian region of Ogaden has called for an independent inquiry into alleged human rights abuses in the area. In a report released late Wednesday, the UN group, which travelled through Ogaden for a week, said there was no humanitarian crisis in the desperately poor region, where the government has been cracking down on separatist rebels for months, but said the allegations should be looked at further. Meanwhile it said some 600,000 people were in need of food aid, the distribution of which was being closely watched by the military. "The movement of food from town to villages and from one village to another was strictly monitored and controlled by the military," it said, echoing aid agencies like Doctors Without Borders (MSF) which have accused the government of blocking medical aid to the region. MSF and the Red Cross were both recently expelled from Ogaden. The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) says the government is committing war crimes - including burning villages and blocking access to food in a bid to flush out the rebels. The ONLF, a group of separatist rebels staging a low-level insurgency against the government since it was formed in 1984, welcomed the mission's recommendation. "Such an investigation must be under the auspices of the UN and, unlike the recent fact finding mission, must not be limited to routes approved by the current regime," the group said in a statement. The government accuses neighbouring foe Eritrea of supporting the rebel group, and charges the ONLF staged at least two attacks this year - one on a Chinese-owned oil firm that killed 74 people and another on national holiday celebrations. The ONLF denies the latter. dpa tsi tg bve