RIGHTS-SOMALIA: UN Urged to Probe War Crimes

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Joyce Mulama

NAIROBI, Nov 8 2004 (IPS) - Rights groups are sceptical of the ability of the proposed Somali government to address the thorny issues of human rights abuses which have been at the heart of the collapse of Somalia since 1991.

The proposed government, which will be formed in neighbouring Kenya this month, is expected to relocate to the capital Mogadishu by the end of the year.

Even before Somalia’s peace agreement was signed in Kenya’s capital Nairobi last month, the G10, an umbrella of ten local human rights groups, had warned that the warlords jockeying for power were not the right people to restore human rights in the Horn of African country.

‘’Leaders and commanders of armed factions who would qualify for indictment for committing war crimes and crimes against humanity have been negotiating a peace deal whose mainstay is power-sharing for governance in a post-conflict Somalia,’’ said G10 in its ‘Human Rights Status Report: The Somali Situation, published by NOVIB, a Dutch relief organisation.

‘’The fact that the peace (process) is dominated by warlords raises an important issue: how will the (process) yield a framework that addresses past gross human rights violations including documented cases of political killings, massacres, mass rapes indiscriminate killing of unarmed civilians, forced occupations and displacements, among others?’’ the report wondered.

Somalia’s peace talks have been taking place in Kenya since 2002. The talks culminated into the election of 275 members of parliament on Aug. 22, 2004, some of whom are warlords controlling powerful factions and involved in armed combat.

Mediated by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional body, comprising Kenya, Somalia, Uganda, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan and Djibouti, the peace process is aimed at ending the over-a-decade conflict. The process also resulted into the election of a speaker Sep. 15, 2004. Similarly, delegates at the talks elected Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed as president Oct. 10, and Ali Mohammed Ghedi as prime minister Nov. 3.

Ghedi is expected to name a cabinet in the next 30 days that will form a new government, putting an end to lawlessness in Somalia. Somalia has been without a central government since 1991.

The Horn of African country plunged into turmoil after the ouster of the dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. Since then, it has been in the hands of warlords who have been fighting to gain control over large tracts of territories. Some territories have declared autonomy from Somalia, such as Puntland in the north East and Somaliland in the North West.

Now rights groups and women parliamentarians want the international community to help the proposed government to address the human rights violations, particularly rape. The groups have asked the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to appoint a Special Rapporteur on violence against women to lead a mission to Somalia, to establish the magnitude of violation of human rights.

Somali women parliamentarians have also called upon the international community to advocate for a commission to look into war crimes particularly rape, which they say has been used as a weapon of war by militias.

‘’We are asking the international community to come in because it is difficult to trust (warlords) to set up measures of addressing crimes against humanity such as rape,’’ Asha Abdalla, a legislator and human rights campaigner, told IPS Nov. 4. According to her, during the early period of the war, a woman was raped every one hour.

The Human Rights Status Report concurs that rape of women was and is widespread, and that it has been used as a tool to punish and intimidate ethnic factions. ‘’Thousands of Somali girls and women were raped during war time in the country between 1991 and 1994. War crimes against the female population have been committed at unprecedented levels and with impunity in Somalia,’’ said the report.

It singles out establishment of rape camps as one of the worst atrocities committed against Somali women, particularly in Mogadishu, the country’s capital. ‘’These were the result of militiamen who abducted several women, imprisoned them in villas and then subjected them to repeated rapes and other forms of sexual abuse. While all the women and girls were vulnerable to these attacks, rapists usually targeted those belonging to rival factions or who had weak clan affiliations,’’ said the report.

The militiamen have also been accused of following Somali women into refugee camps in Kenya to gang-rape them.

Critics say these are serious offences that should not go unpunished. ‘’We, as women parliamentarians, are taking this up and we want action taken against offenders once found guilty by a truth commission, if it is formed,’’ Abdalla said.

Observers say the proposed truth commission should also deal with arbitrary killings. The killings are widespread due to the high prevalence of arms in the country, which has resulted from the 13 years of lawlessness.

Aid agencies have termed Somalia as one of the most highly armed in the world. In 1999, the Red Cross said the 1.3 million residents of Mogadishu alone possessed more than a million guns, out of an estimated 550 million small guns in circulation across the world.

It is believed that due to the absence of mechanisms to address proliferation of small arms and lack of a proper administration including the judiciary, the rule of the gun and bullets have become ways of dispute resolution, access to and control of resources, and exertion of power and governance.

According to statistics compiled by rights groups in southern Somalia, more than 530 civilian deaths from armed conflict were recorded between July 2002 and June 2003. However, the organisations say the figures could be higher since many of the incidents go unreported.

Human rights groups have also raised concern over kidnappings, which have been taking place in Somalia. Most perpetrators are said to be militias associated with the warlords.

At a July 2004 press briefing in Nairobi, Martin Hill, Amnesty International’s researcher for Horn of Africa noted that about 300 kidnappings were carried out last year. ‘’But the figure could be higher,’’ he said.

The conflict has resulted into displacements of Somalis. Statistics from the United Nations indicate that the first year of the war alone saw over one million people fleeing Somalia, while over two million became internally displaced. Currently, the UN estimates there are about one million Somalis in the Diaspora.

Analysts say the only way to address atrocities and forge reconciliation among Somalis is through creation of an internationally monitored truth and reconciliation commission. ‘’Somalis have been hurt. But, since they are a forgiving community, if told the truth and perpetrators known, forgiving and healing can take place,’’ Khaleef Hassan, a renowned political analyst for Somalia, told IPS.

‘’If the government takes the route of a commission to look into abuses, it will not go wrong. It must exhibit the will for respecting and upholding human rights,’’ he said.

Hill urged Somalia’s proposed government to be committed to human rights. ‘’New human rights abuses must not be tolerated and those responsible for past crimes against humanity must be held accountable. Those implicated in the crimes (warlords) should not hold public offices.’’