This week the government brushed off allegations of war crimes in the ogaden region , where it is conducting a ferocious counter-insurgency against an armed separatist group , the ogaden national liberation front .
Mr turki is said to hail from the ethnically somali ogaden region of eastern ethiopia and has long been bent on setting up an islamist caliphate of greater somalia that would take in chunks of ethiopia plus djibouti and bits of north-eastern kenya .
The government also regularly publicises threats by the ogaden national liberation front , a somali separatist group in the east , which has murdered foreigners and ethiopians exploring for oil in that area .
A simple way for it to win confirmation of its claim that human rights watch 's accusations are false would be to let independent journalists , both foreign and ethiopian , visit the ogaden and see for themselves .