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Militants attacked a Chinese energy facility in Ethiopia's Ogaden region April 24, killing 74 people. The same day, Islamists targeted Ethiopian forces in Somalia with suicide car bombings.
The attacks fulfill a threat by Somalian Islamists to conduct an unprecedented war against Ethiopia. They also reveal a level of regional coordination against Ethiopia that matches Addis Ababa's worst fears of a spillover from Somalia's troubles.
A force of roughly 200 militants killed nine Chinese citizens and kidnapped seven, and also killed 65 Ethiopians, during the attack against China's Zhongyuan Petroleum Exploration Bureau natural gas exploration facility. The incident will complicate China's relations with governments in Ethiopia and Eritrea, both of which desire Beijing's economic largesse. It also will force Beijing to re-evaluate its involvement and security in Africa in general.
The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), a group fighting for independence from Ethiopia for the largely ethnic Somali Ogaden region, claimed responsibility for the incident. The separatist group never has carried out an operation on this scale. Though the ONLF has previously issued warnings against foreign oil companies exploring for energy in Ogaden, the assault against Ethiopia's economic infrastructure marks a first.
The incident occurred near Jijiga, the capital of Ogaden; supply lines crucial to the survival of the Ethiopian government pass precariously close by the area. Arms shipments and goods from abroad bound for Ethiopia largely must transit this road-and-rail corridor, which stretches from Djibouti to Addis Ababa. Conflict in the Jijiga area also threatens a main supply line from Addis Ababa and Djibouti into the Ogaden region itself.
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