U.N. team returns from Ethiopia's troubled Ogaden

Addis Ababa, Sept 6 - U.N. aid officials and human rights investigators ended a week-long mission to Ethiopia's troubled Ogaden region on Thursday and said they would present their findings to the government next week.

The mission primarily assessed the food, water and health needs in the remote area, said Paul Hebert, head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Ethiopia.

"Considering this was not an investigative mission, we gathered enough information to enable us to draw preliminary conclusions on the humanitarian situation in the region and on protection issues," Hebert told Reuters.

"The government facilitation was good," he said, adding that the mission would brief the Ethiopian authorities next week before reporting to donors and non-governmental organisations.

The international community has increasingly focused attention on Ogaden, which borders Somalia, after rights groups accused Ethiopian soldiers of shooting civilians and burning homes there in a crackdown on separatist rebels.

Asserting his right to ensure security, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi announced the military campaign against the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) guerrillas in June.

The ONLF, which wants greater autonomy for the ethnically Somali region, was responsible for an April raid on a Chinese-run oil exploration field that killed 74 people.

Meles says the ONLF are terrorists supported by Eritrea.

Source: Reuters