17-09-09 Ethnic Somali rebels from the Ogaden National Liberation Front have issued a fresh warning to companies exploring for oil in Ethiopia's eastern Somali region, known as the Ogaden.
No business should be conducted in Ogaden "until there is a political solution to the conflict," the ONLF said. The rebels "will not be responsible for any collateral damages that occur from its engagements with the Ethiopian army," according to ONLF. The group also accused oil companies of "disinheriting the Ogaden people of their natural resources."

The warning from the rebel group comes after the Ethiopian Reporter, an Addis Ababa-based newspaper, said that a contractor for Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional had resumed drilling in the remote region late in August. Petronas announced it had begun drilling the first wildcat on the Genale Block in Ethiopia's Ogaden Basin.
Apparently drilling commenced and was being handled by the Malaysian firm Weatherford International.

Petronas had suspended operations there back in April 2007 after the ONLF attacked an exploration site near the town of Abole, killing 73 people. The site was operated by a Chinese contractor, Zhonguyuan Petroleum Exploration Bureau.
The ONLF is seeking autonomy for Ethiopia's Somali region, an arid land twice the size of England that is home to about 4 mm people, most of whom are ethnic Somali nomadic herders. Conflict between the ONLF and Ethiopia has simmered for the past two decades.