Addis Ababa Ethiopia Domestic Service (in Amharic) — 1000 GMT, 2 December

(Foreign Information Broadcast Service Editor’s Note)

Addis Ababa Ethiopia Domestic Service in Amharic 1000 GMT 2 December reported the Emperor communicated an order to leaders, elders, and shaykhs of Jigjiga and Ogaden — in the company of the governor of Harar — on the strengthening of the peace in the Ogaden. The Emperor said:

As you may recall, on the 29th of last month, we met in this town of Harar to discuss the order I sent to the governor general of Harar last August on putting an end to the rebel movement in Ogaden. The order was not put into operation.

The radio reported the Emperor issued the following order:

1. To bring about peace and security in the Ogaden, the security forces, leaders, elders, and sheikhs of the Ogaden region must help each other.

2. To rout the Shifta¹ which has terrorized the Ogadenia, the sheikhs, elders, and leaders must give a helping hand to the security forces and constantly support them to the hilt.

3. To safeguard livestock, property, and the lives of the nomadic people who are unconnected with or unaware of the Shifta or of its activities, the leaders, elders, and shaykhs loyal to the Ethiopian Government must constantly inform the security forces about it, so as to prevent any harm being done to the people.

To find means of routing the Shifta, the elders and tribal leaders of a tribe must recruit youths from their tribe who are willing to defend the country and attack the Shifta, which harms the peace of the country.

4. To enable the security forces to know anyone who is in league with the Shifta or gives it any assistance, the elders and shaykhs must do their best to arrest such people or, failing this, to inform the officer of the Ethiopian army.

If they hide in the homes or are hidden by the latter, and if the Ethiopian security army should then harm the livestock or the nomadic people, the responsibility for this will be on the leaders, shaykhs, and elders of that particular nomadic tribe.

To strengthen the peace of the Ogaden, there should be a spirit of cooperation with the security forces in anything that they are doing.

The emperor stressed the Ogaden Shifta would be eliminated to the last man.

1. The fighters of Jabhatul Nasrallah (Nasrallah Front) fighting for independence at the time were referred to by Imperial authorities as Shiftas (Bandits) ↩︎