Since 1984, the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), and its military arm, the Ogaden National Liberation Army (ONLA), have been fighting to separate the Ogaden, a portion of the Somali Region, from Ethiopia. The Somali Region is approximately 280,000 square kilometers, about as big as Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia, and is sparsely populated, with approximately four million inhabitants, almost all ethnic Somalis. This is 15 people per square kilometer, less than Oklahoma and more than Utah.