The debate in Sweden, and the international media attention following the imprisonment of the two Swedish journalists Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson by the Ethiopian government in July 2011 illustrates an information gap which needs to be filled regarding the continuing unrest in the Ogaden.
The mere presence of the companies and their efforts to find and bring oil to market in a hostile environment has intensified the conflict. That is the conclusion drawn by Jonathan Ewing whose report “An Ugly Exploration” was first published in World Policy Journal in September 2010. Ewing, then a freelance journalist, is currently employed as a researcher at Swedwatch. Today we know that Schibbye and Persson were looking for answers to many of the same questions which kept Ewing busy for years – the role of oil companies in the Ogadeni conflict. We still believe that Ewing’s piece is one of the most comprehensive texts on the topic, and for that reason Swedwatch has decided to re-publish a slightly updated version of his article.
With the Schibbye and Persson trial continuing in Addis Ababa, we hope that Ewing’s piece can shed some badly needed light on the situation in Ogaden. Swedwatch will continue to study the situation in the Ogaden, and similarily we will continue to scrutinize companies operating in conflict areas and under repressive regimes. It is our hope that Schibbye and Persson will able to continue their work soon.
Jonathan Ewing has interviewed witnesses in refugee camps on the Kenyan side of the border. He has spoken to Ethiopian government officials in Addis Ababa, and he has interviewed top UN officials and senior analysts. But he has never been to the Ogaden. It has quite simply not been possible to get a reasonably secure access to the region to be able to move the research forward, even though that has been – and still is – the ambition of Swedwatch.
Further, Swedwatch’s aim is always to incorporate the views of the companies featured in its report. During the last few weeks, Lundin Petroleum has accepted to enter into dialogue with Swedwatch on its role in Ogaden. This is welcome news to Swedwatch, as our aim is to move toward better practice through dialogue. Lundin Petroleum has, nevertheless, declined to provide comments for this story.
We are publishing Ewing’s article outside the regular stream of reports from Swedwatch as a piece of excellent journalism. In order for it to reach a wider audience the article is being republished on our website in both Swedish and English.
