By Boniface Ongeri
Sometime last year, security officers in Mandera County came across a group of terrified people at an unofficial entry point on Kenyaâs border with Ethiopia.
They listened as the group told of a horrid encounter with men in military uniforms.
They claimed they were members of Ethiopiaâs military who shot at them, raped women and set ablaze their homes and harvests in south eastern Ethiopia.
Ethiopiaâs Ogaden National Liberation Front rebels with their weapons. [PHOTO: BONIFACE ONGERI/STANDARD]
The security officers did what has become routine: They recorded the foreigners in the Occurrence Book (OB) and later escorted them to Dadaab refugee camp, some 600km away.
According to the OB, some of the people had deep wounds they claimed were inflicted with knives and machetes. They wanted refuge in Kenya.
Records at the Mandera law court also show most of the Ethiopians charged with being in the country illegally opted to be taken to the refugee camp than being deported.
"Ordering us back to Ethiopia is a sure way to death. Please take us to camps as that is where we were headed before we were intercepted," Haye Bedel, 40, told the court.
Teeming Camp
At the teeming camp, he is among the latest arrivals fleeing turbulence pitting the Ethiopian government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and the Ogaden National Liberation Front rebels. The militia is fighting for the Ogaden regionâs self-determination.
"Thank God I am alive; I have watched many others in my Shilawe District village being killed," said Bedel, whose two legs were cut off by soldiers.
