Monday June 23, 2025
Dr. Ayaanle Yaasiin Budul (left), Chair of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) office in Nogob Zone, and Bashir Osman Budul (right), ONLF Chair for Elweyne District, pose for a photo outside a party office prior to their reported detention by Somali Region authorities. ONLF says both men have been held without charge since late May 2025 following a raid on the group’s office in Elweyne. (Photo courtesy of ONLF)
JIGJIGA, Ethiopia (HOL) — The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) has accused Somali Region officials in Ethiopia of unlawfully detaining two senior members of the party for over three weeks, describing the incident as part of a pattern of political intimidation that threatens the 2018 peace agreement.
In a statement released June 20, ONLF said Ayaanle Yaasiin Budul, the party’s chair in Nogob Zone, and Bashir Osman Budul, the Elweyne District chair, were arrested after armed personnel raided the ONLF office in Elweyne. Both men remain held at an undisclosed location without formal charges, legal representation, or family contact.
The party said the office was ransacked and its flag destroyed. An elderly woman who owns the building—described as the mother of a former ONLF fighter—was also detained for one week on what ONLF called a “baseless accusation” of renting premises to the party. She was released without charge.
ONLF named five local and regional officials it claims ordered or oversaw the raid: Abdirisaq Mohamed-Nour, head of the Nogob Zone administration; Mohamed Shurkri Sagal and Anab Ali Sulub, Prosperity Party (PP) leaders in Nogob and Elweyne; Abdirashid “Ilkacase,” district attorney in Elweyne; and Abdulahi “Qubbi,” commander of the Elweyne district police. According to ONLF, the raid was conducted under direct orders from Somali Regional State President Mustafa Muhumed Omar, a PP appointee who the group has frequently accused of political interference and repression.
The detentions follow mounting allegations by ONLF of a coordinated effort to suppress the party’s political activities. In March, ONLF publicly accused the federal government of reneging on the 2018 peace accord and “abandoning the constitutional right to regional self-rule,” after alleged efforts by the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) to recognize a rival faction claiming leadership of the party.
In April, security forces reportedly disrupted a women’s meeting at ONLF’s regional office in Jigjiga, injuring several members and hospitalizing a prominent cultural figure. Earlier incidents in Garba District allegedly involved arrests and beatings of party members.
In a separate May statement, ONLF further accused NEBE and the regional administration of “orchestrating a leadership takeover” by recognizing 60 individuals—including expelled or unaffiliated persons—as its new Central Committee. The group said this was “a calculated attempt to neutralize ONLF as a political force,” warning it could reignite tensions in the historically restive region. The party said the interference violates Ethiopia’s Constitution and international agreements, including the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance.
The group also cited what it called NEBE’s “history of interference,” pointing to its rejection of the Godey Congress results in 2019 and its endorsement of rival leadership appointments in 2021 and 2024. ONLF said these actions aimed to “dismantle its internal structures” and “install loyalists” aligned with the Prosperity Party.
President Omar has publicly rejected such claims, stating in March that his administration was focused on “expanding essential services and ensuring regional stability.”
ONLF issued five demands: the immediate release of its detained leaders; restoration of its Elweyne office; an independent investigation into the raid; an end to all political intimidation; and full respect for the 2018 peace accord and constitutional guarantees of regional self-rule.
The group has appealed to international partners to monitor the detainees’ welfare, ensure access to legal counsel, and support an impartial fact-finding mission to assess the human rights situation in the Somali Region.
The 2018 peace deal, signed in Asmara after decades of armed conflict, formally ended ONLF’s military campaign for self-determination in Ethiopia’s Somali Region. As part of the agreement, ONLF was allowed to operate legally as a political party. However, the group now says that promise is being “systematically undermined.”