Human Rights Report
Somalia: Attacks on Civilians
Introduction
Civilians in Somalia are being routinely targeted. Rape, killings and looting have become widespread. Entire neighbourhoods have been destroyed. Somali civilians have been violently attacked in the conflict areas of southern and central Somalia, on the roads as they tried to escape and in the camps and settlements to which they fled.
“I saw girls get raped in my neighbourhood and on the streets. I saw people get slaughtered. I saw people killed in their houses, their bodies rotting for days.” This account was offered by a 30-year-old man from Ruhe, Mogadishu, one of scores of traumatized survivors of conflict interviewed by Amnesty International.
According to dozens of detailed testimonies, incidents of rape and pillaging by Transitional Federal Government (TFG) forces are frequent and there has been an upsurge in violent abuses by Ethiopian armed forces in Somalia. For example, a 35-year-old woman from Medina in Mogadishu said, “They killed my husband and my father on the same day on 25 November 2007. They were riding together in a car. When they were stopped, my husband started speaking in Somali, but the soldiers didn’t understand. They shot my husband in the forehead. When my father intervened they shot him too”.
Somali journalists and human rights defenders have been attacked by TFG and Ethiopian forces, and by armed opposition groups. A 19-year-old radio journalist who left Mogadishu in October 2007 after being threatened several times by unknown callers said, “I couldn’t tell who to beware of and be careful of—the Ethiopians, the TFG or local national resistance groups.”
House-to-house searches and raids by TFG or Ethiopian forces have escalated since October 2007 in and around Mogadishu, accompanied by violence, including unlawful killings. A refugee from the Black Sea area near Bakara Market, said, “My worst experience was one day when the TFG soldiers raided my village. .. I was watching from upstairs in my house. They were in a line and everyone had their hands against the wall. Then the soldiers fired on them, in bursts from their AK47s. They were six or seven metres away from me. ... They also looted the village.”
Armed groups are also responsible for human rights abuses. A 25-year-old woman from Mogadishu said,“First they steal, then they take away the girls. Sometimes the girls come back, sometimes they don’t. It was a Thursday in mid-November. We were robbed by armed men. They were only two, and they were masked. They tried to take my sister, but my husband intervened, saying ‘this girl is too young and poor.’ This is when they shot him in the chest with rifles. Then the two masked men ran away with my sister. My husband died after he was shot. I ran away from my home because my husband was shot in front of my kids.”
All parties to the complex conflict are committing human rights abuses, and are violating international humanitarian law – the laws of war designed to protect non-combatants in conflict. The resulting humanitarian crisis in southern and central Somalia has added to the level of suffering. UNICEF announced on 14 February 2008 that some 90,000 children could die in Somalia in the next few months because of inadequate funding for nutrition, water and sanitation programmes.i
About 6,000 civilians were reportedly killed in fighting in the capital Mogadishu and across southern and central Somalia in 2007ii and more than 600,000 Somali civilians were internally displaced.iii An estimated 335,000 Somali refugees left the country in 2007,iv despite enormous obstacles. These included Kenya closing its border with Somalia,v marauding armed combatants and bandits on the roads, and the risks of crossing the Gulf of Aden.
Amnesty International is deeply concerned about ongoing human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law by all parties to the conflict in Somalia, specifically torture, including rape, and other ill-treatment, extrajudicial executions, arbitrary detention and attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure.
This report includes information obtained by Amnesty International representatives visiting Nairobi, Kenya, and Hargeisa, Somaliland, in November and December 2007. They spoke to displaced people who had fled the conflict in southern and central Somalia, particularly Mogadishu. In addition to interviews with more than 75 displaced people, Amnesty International interviewed or met scores of representatives of local and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The names and affiliations of all these individuals have been withheld for their protection.
This report concludes with recommendations to the TFG, the government of Ethiopia, armed groups in Somalia, and the international community to strengthen the observance of human rights and ensure the protection of civilians.
There is no safety for civilians wherever they run. Those fleeing violence in Mogadishu face further violence on the roads north toward Puntland and west toward Afgooye and Baidoa, including theft, rape and shootings. One woman stated, “On the road from Mogadishu, there are robbers who come and take your money or just fire directly at the buses. Sometimes, there are roadblocks where they stop and ask you for money. If you don’t stop, they will kill you. …Sometimes, bandits will threaten and rape women—even if they are pregnant or breast feeding. My own family members have experienced things like this.”
Reaching an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) site or a refugee settlement does not guarantee safety. The displaced also face lack of access to essential services, including clean water, medical care, and adequate food supplies. Humanitarian operations are frequently impeded by parties to the conflict and criminal gangs, and the overall level of insecurity in these areas is extremely high. In addition, humanitarian organizations often lack the requisite capacity.
The humanitarian crisis in southern and central Somalia is largely caused by widespread violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. These violations require immediate and effective action by the international community, including the United Nations (UN), African Union (AU), League of Arab States (LAS), and governments in the International Contact Group on Somalia (ICGS).
The conflict in Somalia is legally characterized as non-international, requiring parties to the conflict to comply with international humanitarian law governing such conflict. Ethiopian troops, as well as African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) forces with contingents from Uganda and Burundi, must also comply with international human rights law. Groups of militia attached to, or acting as proxies for, TFG and Ethiopian forces fall under similar restrictions.
Armed groups in Somalia are many and varied. They include remnants of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), supporters of the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS), and various factions of the Shabab (“youth”) militia – formerly young ICU fighters. As long as members of these armed groups are taking direct part in the conflict, they do not enjoy civilian status. Sub-clan and other local political leaders have also committed crimes against civilians, as have bandits and clan militias. Some are involved as combatants in the armed conflict of TFG and Ethiopian forces against armed opposition groups, while some are not. Many are committing acts of robbery, extortion, rape and violence against civilians throughout southern and central Somalia. The TFG has provided virtually no protection from such acts.
Read the full report here.
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