The scale and severity of the crimes during the intense fighting in Somalia in recent months demonstrates the need for an international commission of inquiry, Human Rights Watch said today. A recent Human Rights Watch investigation found that all of the parties to the armed conflict have been responsible for indiscriminate attacks on civilians since May 2010. Some of these attacks may amount to war crimes.
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"The world has for too long ignored the appalling cost to civilians of the fighting in Mogadishu," said Rona Peligal, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "An international commission of inquiry is urgently needed to investigate war crimes committed in Somalia by all sides."
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Both sides conducted indiscriminate bombardments of populated areas from May to November that resulted in scores of civilian casualties. Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that civilians in Mogadishu were trapped between the "hit and run" tactics of the insurgent al-Shabaab fighters, who generally launch mortar rounds at transitional government and peacekeepers' positions from populated areas and then flee, and the indiscriminate response of the peacekeepers and transitional government troops.
The laws of war prohibit indiscriminate attacks, which strike military targets and civilians without distinction. Examples include attacks that are not directed at a specific military objective, or that use weapons that cannot be targeted at a specific military objective. Forces also violate the laws of war when they move into densely populated areas and conduct attacks without taking all feasible precautions to ensure that the target is military and not civilian.
Many people interviewed by Human Rights Watch described a consistent pattern: al-Shabaab would launch one or two rockets or fire a mortar round at transitional government and peacekeeping positions within or near populated areas under their control, prompting a sustained bombardment with mortars and rockets by the peacekeepers and transitional government forces. These heavy bombardments of civilian areas have provoked the repeated displacement of residents.
Witnesses said that after launching their attacks, al-Shabaab fighters would immediately leave the area in vehicles or hide among the civilians. People described this kind of operation taking place in the districts of Hodan, Halwadaag, Wardighley, al-Ashabya, K-13, Bar Huba, and Bakara Market.
Yusuf, a 42-year-old man from Kismayo who went to Mogadishu during Ramadan, told Human Rights Watch: "Al-Shabaab attacks from areas where civilians are. They come to the neighborhood, mount their mortars, shoot, and leave. [Some] run away and some others just hide in the community. When AMISOM's response comes, there's nobody from al-Shabaab there anymore."
Residents told Human Rights Watch that the peacekeepers typically respond to the attacks with a sustained barrage of heavy artillery, used indiscriminately. Muktar Barre Aden, a 43-year-old bus driver from the Huruwe area in Mogadishu, said: "Both sides attack civilians...but the main problem is AMISOM. They're shelling too much; they're just bombing from their bases. What strategy is that?"
Other witnesses said that the peacekeepers responded with rockets and mortars even toward populated areas where there was no evident military objective. Areas inside the Bakara Market that have been repeatedly hit include the fruit and vegetable area, the bus station, the gold area, the clothes area, and the money exchange area - all with heavy civilian traffic. The laws of war prohibit deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian property, as well as attacks where the anticipated loss of civilian life is disproportionate to the expected military gain.
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A 30-year-old woman from Bakara Market said: "During Ramadan the worst days were the 21st, 27th, and 29th days [August 31, September 6, and September 8]. There was a lot of firing into Bakara. Al-Shabaab hit targets directly, but AMISOM hit public places, especially the bus and parking at the market. I lived in the center of the market. This was the worst place. The parking lot of the market and the bus station and the place gold was sold were all hit the worst."
Human Rights Watch also received reports that the peacekeepers shelled areas under al-Shabaab control intensively and indiscriminately in the aftermath of the July 11 attacks in Kampala. A 37-year-old merchant in Bakara Market from the Bar Huba area in Mogadishu told Human Rights Watch: "The day after [Kampala] they [AMISOM] fired upon the Bakara Market and Bar Huba. It was non-stop shelling for 24 hours. From that day, [AMISOM] started targeting civilians more and more."
"Both al-Shabaab and the peacekeepers are conducting attacks with little regard for the safety of the civilian population," Peligal said. "Those responsible for indiscriminate shelling should be prosecuted for war crimes."
The laws of war require warring parties to take constant care to spare the civilian population, and give effective, advance warning of attacks that may affect the civilian population, unless circumstances do not permit. Neither side in Mogadishu has provided sufficient warnings to civilians in areas affected by planned offensives, Human Rights Watch said.
Witnesses in areas under government control said that neither the transitional government nor the peacekeepers have ever distributed information to civilians about imminent fighting and the necessity to leave.
Human Rights Watch received conflicting reports about al-Shabaab's conduct. In some cases, people told Human Rights Watch that al-Shabaab disseminated flyers and made some limited public announcement using megaphones to tell civilians to leave certain areas. But in other cases, residents said al-Shabaab fighters stopped them from leaving areas where heavy fighting was taking place.
NPR reporter embedded w/ the foreign fighters in Mogadishu gives a report On The Front Lines In Somalia
From the lead in,
The troops, most of them from Uganda, are trying to seize control of Mogadishu. And the effort is funded, in part, by you - the American taxpayer.-- -- --
Mogadishu youth vow will start Anti-Al shabaab, TFG demo
After meeting in the Somali capital Mogadishu, members of Somali Youth Movement (SYM) told the media that they will begin large demonstrations against Al shabaab and Somali transitional federal government (TFG) in Mogadishu same as what happened in Egypt and Tunisia in an attempt to change more about how the situation of the nation is.
Jama’ Sa’id Qorsheel, a member of SYM said that the young people in Benadir region are needed to make uprising like the ones in Egypt and Tunisia.
Qorsheel pointed out that they will official start the demonstrations in the next few days.
Daily Nation: Somali youths, preacher seek Egypt-style revolt
Tens of Somali youths and a preacher are seeking an Egypt style solution to force an end to 20 years of chaos and lack of a stable government.
Waving Somali flags, the youths staged a demonstration at a key road between Banadir and Km 4 junctions in South Mogadishu on Sunday.
They protested the seemingly endless war between the pro-government forces and the jihadists (holy warriors) of al Shabaab, the fanatical militant group vehemently challenging the Transitional Federal Government.
The daring youths gathered at Km 4 area, an important control point manned by the peacekeepers serving the AU Mission in Somalia, Amisom.
One of the organisers, Mr Jama Said Qorshel, told journalists they were committed to daily protests till their objectives are achieved.
“We are not going to abandon until we achieve our anti-war goals,” said Qorshel.
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The TFG’s Security Police, better known as PS, apprehended seven organisers after the protests announced on Saturday. However, the move did not deter others from marching.
Elsewhere, a spiritual leader of Somalia's Islamist Shabaab rebels called Monday for popular Egypt- and Tunisia-style revolts to topple the country's Western-backed transitional government.
Sheikh Jama Abdusalam said such uprisings would rid the war-wracked country of a government that he accused of serving Western interests.
"I am urging the people to carry out Egyptian- and Tunisian-style uprisings in Somalia," Abdusalam told Alfurqaan Radio, a Shabaab mouthpiece.
"It is good to take up such revolution against all governments that serve the interest of Western countries," he said. "We have to follow Muslims who are fighting for their dignity and religion in Tunisia and Egypt."
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Another Shabaab imam, Sheikh Abdulfatah Aweys Abu Hamsa, called for more attacks on African Union soldiers.
"There is a need for a wider jihad against the crusaders who came to support the transitional government," Alfurqaan Radio quoted him as saying.
"We need to follow those who are crushing dictators. We need to remove the so-called leader imposed on us by outsiders," he said.
Shabelle Media: Somali soldiers fire on demonstrators in Mogadishu
forces loyal to Somali transitional federal government on Tuesday opened fire on a crowd of people who were making anti-Al shabaab demonstration in the Somali capital Mogadishu, witnesses said.
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Initial reports suggest that anti- Al shabaab demonstration was organized by the administration of Benadir region under the transitional government.
Tense situation is reported from the vicinity of former national theatre and the house of mothers which lie in the seaside Hamar-weyne district in Mogadishu.
It is still unknown the reason behind soldiers’ shooting on demonstrating civilians and no government official commented the incident.
AP: Somali soldiers open fire on peace rally
Somali government soldiers in a pickup truck killed at least four civilians after opening fire on hundreds of people attending a peace rally in Mogadishu, the country's war-ravaged capital, officials said Tuesday.
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Ali Muse, the chief of Mogadishu's ambulance service, said his team collected four bodies and that 17 people were wounded.
Mogadishu residents have long accused soldiers of the fragile government of daily harassment and sometimes of reckless killings. The majority of the soldiers are former militiamen with little discipline.
Shabelle Media adds:
Shabelle reporter, who witnessed the incident, said that the demonstrators ran after the shootout, adding that soldiers onboard a military vehicle opened the fire on the crowd near former national theater where a number of TFG officials were attending the protest.
Two Somali government soldiers were among those wounded in the shooting, according to Warsameh Jodah, the deputy TFG’s Mogadishu mayor.
Before the shooting erupted, hundreds of demonstrators chanting anti Al shabaab slogans and supporting Somalia’s UN fragile government could be seen in the streets of TFG controlled district of Hamar weyne.
It is the second such mass killing TFG forces to commit less than a month.
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Ahmed Diriye, the spokesman of Hawiye traditional elders on Tuesday lambasted Somali government whose soldiers fired Mogadishu protestors killing at least 4 people and injuring more than 10 others.
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Ahmed Diriye also indicated that the soldiers behind the shootout were enemy, adding that Somali government led by the prime minister Mohammed Abdullahi Mohammed Farmajo has failed assuring the overall security and tranquility of Benadir region, particularly in the areas under its control.
Mareeg Online:
Somali parliament speaker, Sharif Hassan Sh. Adam similarly condemned the act and expressed great sorrow of the deadly event.-- -- --
This is the second attack government forces target civilians killing number of innocent civilians, as thought today’s were their backers that signals to loose support of their community.
Shabelle Media: We are accumulating our power to decimate Al shabaab
Somalia’s minister of defense, Abdihakim Hajji Mohamoud Fiqi on Monday said that they are accumulating their power in launching huge offensive to tear down Al shabaab fighters.
Speaking to journalists in Mogadishu, Mr. Fiqi indicated they have several times tried to open negotiations with the group but said all failed after they remained defiant.
He said that Somali transitional federal government is in zero tolerance after Al shabaab increased the hurdle and difficulties on Somalia’s tired people from protracted wars and conflicts.
The defense minister vowed that they will soon launch government’s long threatened offensive against Al shabaab...
Shabelle: Government has no mandate to intervene in parliamentary affairs-Somali president
President Sharif made statement in a press conference held at the presidential palace [Villa Somalia], in which he read a statement asking members of parliament to give his government an opportunity to address the security situation in the country within the 100 day ultimatum that it had set for itself.-- -- --
President Sharif said his government was aware of the parliament's decision on 3 of February in which the MPs extended their term by an additional three years. He said the government has not authority to speak on the extension of parliament given that it is the legislature.
The president also said he was aware of the concerns by various section of the Somali population and the international community as far as parliament's extension of its term by an additional three years is concerned. He said he also welcomes international efforts led by the UN special envoy to Somalia to try and bridge opinions on the transition period and how best to handle this issue.
The president said there was need for political calm in the country at this time in order to allow the TFG to address many important pending tasks including the restoration of security in the country.He said the TFG will always need the international community's support and particularly the countries that closely follow the situation in Somalia.
Shabelle Media: Somali soldier shoots a civilian bus, killing one
A soldier of Somali transitional federal government on Thursday shot a civilian bus killing at least one civilian and wounding two others, witnesses said.-- -- --
The shooting came after the bus driver turned a deaf ear an order from the soldier that was the bus to be stopped.
Witnesses said the injured people were taken to medical centers in the capital citi of Mogadishu.
The incident took place in the junction of Benedir at Hodan district of Benedir region.
It is the third incident of Somali soldiers to shoot the civilian people in Mogadishu.
From a press release out of the TFG's propaganda ministry: Somali Government arrests suspects of Tuesday’s attack on Peace Festival
The Somali Government have arrested five who are suspected to be involved in Tuesday’s attack on Peace Festival in Mogadishu, in which three civilians and a soldier were killed.
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Government forces with the help of AMISOM peacekeepers placed behind bars the following suspects:
1. Mohamed Omar Habeb (aka Mohamed Dhere), former mayor of Mogadishu
2. Abdi Qeybdiid (not General Abdi Hassan Awale Qeybdid, former Police Commissioner)
3. Mohamed Raaghe Tifow
4. Ali Nur Mohamed
5. Nur Ali Yalahow
The Government confirmed that the arrested suspects will be brought before justice as soon as possible. It has also stressed that this is one of the steps it is taking to end impunity in the country so that the citizens can live in peace and stability.
From a press release out of the US Embassy in Nairobi:
The Transitional Federal Government’s swift response to yesterday’s attack is a signal to the people of Somalia that it is serious about challenging the culture of impunity that has plagued Somalia for the last years.
From an article in the Canadian Press on a new development in the trial of Mohamed Ali Samantar, After 6 years, judge denies immunity for former Somali prime minister now living in US
A judge has denied legal immunity to a former Somali prime minister now living in northern Virginia who is accused in a federal lawsuit of torture and war crimes.-- -- --
The judge's ruling, issued Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, represents a significant reversal in the case against Mohamed Ali Samantar, who was a defence minister and prime minister of Somalia in the 1980s during the regime of dictator Siad Barre.
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In 2007, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema dismissed the case and determined that Samantar was entitled to immunity under federal law.
But last year, the U.S. Supreme Court sent the case back to Brinkema for further deliberation on whether Samantar deserved immunity.
Brinkema changed course this week after receiving a rare "statement of interest" from the State Department which said Samantar should not be entitled to immunity. The State Department reasoned that Samantar was not qualified for immunity because there is no recognized government in Somalia that can request immunity on his behalf.
So much for the TFG's claim that it arrested the suspects in the rally massacre, or, for that matter, the US embassy's praise for the TFG's "swift action" the other day
Shabelle Media: AMISOM extradites former Mogadishu mayor to Somali govt
African Union peacekeepers [foreign fighters] in Somalia on Friday extradited Mohammed Omar Habeb better known as Mohammed Dhere, former Mogadishu mayor and junior TFG official to the transitional federal government of Somalia.-- -- --
Both former Mogadishu mayor and the junior officer were among five people arrested by AMISOM forces in connection with Tuesday’s Mogadishu peaceful demonstrators shootout that left 4 dead and more than 11 others wounded.
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Nathan Mugisha, AMISOM’s force commander, who held a press conference in Mogadishu, said that days ago they had seized five persons including former Mogadishu mayor.
While he was in the hands of Africa forces, he didn’t encounter any problem, according to Mugisha, adding that they handed over Mohammed Dhere and Abdi Qeybdid to Somali government after receiving appeal from TFG.
Prof. Michael Weinstein recaps the brouhaha surrounding the TFP's voted extension in his latest, The West’s “Miserable Failure”, and concludes that
Will the U.N.-Western coalition continue to expend its (inadequate) resources on its half-in half-out “policy,” propping up the T.F.I.s for another three years, keeping the African Union peacekeeping” mission (AMISOM) in Mogadishu to prevent the Islamists from taking over the city entirely, and allowing and abetting the country’s chronic bleed? Given the present indications, that is the most likely prospect.-- -- --
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It is possible, nonetheless, that domestic and regional actors are in the process of going their own ways and will increasingly take over events, exacerbating conflict-generating fragmentation or moving towards a measure of integration. The problem for the U.N.-Western coalition is that the other actors seem unwilling to take it seriously – for good reason, one might add.
Shabelle Media: Somali govt, Al shabaab claim victory over Mogadishu fighting
More than 10 people have been killed and nearly 20 injured after Somali government forces backed by African Union peacekeepers foreign fighters waged a huge offensive on Al shabaab military trenches in seaside Mogadishu city.
In an interview with Shabelle Media Network, Abdullahi Ali Anod, the commander of president guards said that early Saturday morning, they attacked Al shabaab fighters in the districts of Howlwadag, Wrdhigley and Hodan.
The commander stressed they seized at least three military trenches from what he called the extremist group Al shabaab.
Abduullahi Ali Anod also pointed out two soldiers including a military officer were killed in the combat, mentioning 6 other soldiers injured.
On the other hand, the spokesman of Al shabaab fighters, Sheikh Abdulazeez Abu Abu Mus’ab claimed they were attacked, but said they rebelled what he called African Christians and their apostate TFG fighters.
Abu Mus’ab stated that their fighters killed 5 African soldiers and 7 Somali forces during the battles.
The fighting on Saturday was the heaviest in the last few weeks.
Shabelle Media: Mogadishu heavy combat continues in the second day
Heavy combat between Somali transitional federal government backed by African Union peacekeepers foreign fighters and Al shabaab fighters is continuing for second day in the Somali capital Mogadishu, witnesses said.
Early Sunday morning, heavy gun battle and artillery barrages could be heard in Mogadishu front battles.
12 people were so far confirmed killed in Saturday fighting, while more than 25 other injured, according to medial sources.
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