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“So Much to Fear” War Crimes and the Devastation of Somalia Copyright © 2008 Human Rights Watch All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 1-56432-415-X Cover design by Rafael Jimenez Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th floor New York, NY 10118-3299 USA Tel: +1 212 290 4700, Fax: +1 212 736 1300 [email protected] Poststraße 4-5 10178 Berlin, Germany Tel: +49 30 2593 06-10, Fax: +49 30 2593 0629 [email protected] Avenue des Gaulois, 7 1040 Brussels, Belgium Tel: + 32 (2) 732 2009, Fax: + 32 (2) 732 0471 [email protected] 64-66 Rue de Lausanne 1202 Geneva, Switzerland Tel: +41 22 738 0481, Fax: +41 22 738 1791 [email protected] 2-12 Pentonville Road, 2nd Floor London N1 9HF, UK Tel: +44 20 7713 1995, Fax: +44 20 7713 1800 [email protected] 27 Rue de Lisbonne 75008 Paris, France Tel: +33 (1)43 59 55 35, Fax: +33 (1) 43 59 55 22 [email protected] 1630 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 500 Washington, DC 20009 USA Tel: +1 202 612 4321, Fax: +1 202 612 4333 [email protected] Web Site Address: http://www.hrw.org December 2008 1-56432-415-X “So Much to Fear” War Crimes and the Devastation of Somalia Map of Somalia ............................................................................................................. 1 Map of Mogadishu ....................................................................................................... 2 Summary.......................................................................................................................3 Recommendations ....................................................................................................... 9 To the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia ................................................. 9 To the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia......................................................10 To Al-Shabaab and other Insurgent groups............................................................. 11 To the government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.......................... 11 To the government of the United States, the European Union and its member states, the European Commission, the African Union, and the Arab League........................ 12 To the United Nations ............................................................................................ 13 Methodology............................................................................................................... 15 Background................................................................................................................. 17 The Current Situation .............................................................................................19 International Humanitarian Law and the Conflict in Somalia....................................... 26 Civilian Deaths and the Destruction of Mogadishu....................................................... 31 Indiscriminate Mortar, Rocket, and Artillery Fire......................................................33 Other Indiscriminate Attacks..................................................................................35 Deadly Threats.......................................................................................................38 An Unrelenting Onslaught ......................................................................................39 Human Rights Abuses by Transitional Federal Government Forces...............................42 Identifying the Perpetrators of TFG Abuses .............................................................42 Assault, Rape, and Killings by TFG Forces ...............................................................47 Looting ..................................................................................................................50 Arbitrary Detention and Torture ..............................................................................52 Laws of War and Human Rights Violations by Ethiopian Military Forces .......................58 Indiscriminate Attacks ...........................................................................................58 Assault, Rape, Killings, and Looting........................................................................61 Abuses by Insurgent Forces.........................................................................................64 Indiscriminate Attacks and Shielding .....................................................................64 Forcible Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers...................................................... 66 Targeted Killings and Death Threats ...................................................................... 69 Attacks on Humanitarian Workers and Civil Society Activists.......................................74 Threats on All Sides ...............................................................................................75 Impact of the Attacks .............................................................................................77 Abuses of Displaced People and Refugees...................................................................79 Abuses in the Afgooye Corridor ..............................................................................79 Violence along the Roads.......................................................................................81 Leaving Somalia ....................................................................................................83 The Role of International Actors in Somalia ................................................................ 86 Ethiopia.................................................................................................................87 Somalia’s Other Regional Neighbors ..................................................................... 89 African Union.........................................................................................................91 Intergovernmental Authority on Development.........................................................92 United Nations Institutions ....................................................................................93 United States.........................................................................................................94 European Commission ...........................................................................................97 Appendix: Direct Donor Support to TFG Security Forces .............................................. 98 Acknowledgments..................................................................................................... 103 Map of Somalia 1 Human Rights Watch December 2008 Map of Mogadishu “So Much to Fear” 2 Summary Somalia is a nation in ruins, mired in one of the world’s most brutal armed conflicts of recent years. Two long years of escalating bloodshed and destruction have devastated the country’s people and laid waste to its capital Mogadishu. Ethiopian, Somali transitional government, and insurgent forces have all violated the laws of war with impunity, forcing ordinary Somalis to bear the brunt of their armed struggle. Beyond its own borders Somalia has had a reputation for violent chaos since the collapse of its last central government in 1991. When Ethiopian military forces intervened there in late 2006 the country already bore the scars of 16 conflict-ridden years without a government. But the last two years are not just another typical chapter in Somalia’s troubled history. The human rights and humanitarian catastrophe facing Somalia today threatens the lives and livelihoods of millions of Somalis on a scale not witnessed since the early 1990s. In December 2006 Ethiopian military forces, acting at the invitation of the internationally recognized but wholly ineffectual Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG), intervened in Somalia against the Islamic Courts Union (ICU). The ICU was a coalition of shari’a (Islamic law) courts that had taken control of Mogadishu in June 2006 after ousting the various warlords who controlled most of the city. At the time the ICU had begun what might have been a dramatic rise to power across much of south-central Somalia. But Ethiopia viewed that development with great alarm; leading figures associated with the ICU had openly threatened war on Ethiopia and talked of annexing the whole of Ethiopia’s eastern Somali region. Ethiopia’s ally the TFG was corrupt and feeble and it welcomed the Ethiopian military support. In 2006 it had a physical presence in only two towns, provided no useful services to Somalis, and with the ICU’s ascendancy was becoming increasingly irrelevant. The United States, which denounced ICU leaders for harboring wanted terrorists, supported Ethiopia’s actions with political backing and military assistance. 3 Human Rights Watch December 2008 The Ethiopian military easily routed the ICU’s militias. For a few days it appeared that they had won an easy victory and that the TFG had ridden Ethiopia’s coattails into power in Mogadishu. But the first insurgent attacks against Ethiopian and TFG forces began almost immediately and rapidly built towards a protracted conflict that has since grown worse with every passing month. Opposition forces coalesced around a broad group of ICU leaders, former parliamentarians, and others known as the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia, around the fundamentalist Al-Shabaab insurgent group and around numerous other largely autonomous armed factions. During the past two years life in Mogadishu has settled into a horrifying daily rhythm with Ethiopian, TFG, and insurgent forces conducting