Introduction
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 and other ill-treatment, rape, extrajudicial executions, arbitrary detention, and attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure. Some 6,000 civilians were reportedly killed in fighting in the capital Mogadishu and across southern and central Somalia in 2007, (1) and over 600,000 Somali civilians were internally displaced from and around Mogadishu. (2) In addition, an estimated 335,000 displaced Somali refugees fled Somalia in 2007, (3) despite enormous obstacles to their movement, including Kenya's closure of its border with Somalia, (4) armed combatants and bandits on the roads, and perilous travel across the Gulf of Aden. Somali civilians suffered violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in the conflict areas of southern and central Somalia, on the roads as they fled conflict areas, and in camps and settlements to which they fled. UNICEF announced on 14 February 2008 that some 90,000 children could die in Somalia in the next few months due to a lack of adequate funding for nutrition, water and sanitation programmes.
This report includes information obtained by Amnesty International representatives visiting Nairobi, Kenya and Hargeisa, Somaliland in November 2007 from displaced persons who had fled the conflict in southern and central Somalia, particularly Mogadishu. In addition to interviews with more than 75 displaced persons, Amnesty International interviewed or met with scores of local and international non governmental organisations (NGO) representatives. Names and affiliations of all of these individuals have been withheld in order to ensure the protection of our sources still living and working in a volatile and insecure environment. Both displaced persons and organizational representatives interviewed reported frequent incidents of rape and pillaging by Transitional Federal Government (TFG) forces, an upsurge in violent abuses on the part of Ethiopian armed forces in Somalia, and the targeting of Somali journalists and human rights defenders by all parties to the conflict. House to house searches and raids by TFG or Ethiopian forces escalated since October 2007 in and around Mogadishu and were accompanied by violent actions taken against individuals, including unlawful killings in violation of international humanitarian law.
There is no safety for civilians wherever they run. Those fleeing violence in Mogadishu still face violence on the roads north toward Puntland and west toward Afgooye and Baidoa, including theft, rape and shootings. Once they arrive in both Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) and refugee settlements, they face further violence, and lack of access to services essential for the realization of human rights, including clean water, medical care, and adequate food supplies, because humanitarian operations are frequently impeded by parties to the conflict and armed criminal groups; the overall high levels of insecurity in these areas; or the lack of capacity among humanitarian organizations.
The humanitarian crisis in southern and central Somalia is largely caused by widespread violation of human rights and international humanitarian law requiring immediate and effective action by the international community, including particularly the United Nations (UN), African Union (AU), League of Arab States (LAS), and governments in the International Contact Group for Somalia (ICGS).
The 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.
The conflict in Somalia is legally characterized as non-international, requiring parties to the conflict to comply with international humanitarian law governing such intra-state 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 and international humanitarian law. Groups of militia attached to, or acting as proxies for, TFG and Ethiopian forces fall under similar restrictions.
It is important to note that 'armed groups' in Somalia include a range of actors - including remnants of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), supporters of the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS), and various factions of the Shabab militia ('youth' - formerly young ICU fighters). To the extent to which and for as long as members of these armed groups are taking direct part in the conflict, they do not maintain civilian status. Sub-clan and other local political leaders have also acted outside of domestic criminal law, as have bandits and clan militia conducting raids, robberies and violent attacks on civilians. Some of these latter nonstate actors, while not acting as combatants in the armed conflict of the TFG and Ethiopian forces against armed opposition groups, are nevertheless committing acts of robbery, extortion, rape and beatings, against civilians throughout southern and central Somalia. The TFG has provided virtually no protection from such acts.
Notes:
(1) In early December the Elman Human Rights Organization estimated that close to 6,000 civilians had been killed in Somalia due to conflict in 2007.
(2) The UN has estimated 600,000 new internally displaced people in 2007, which, combined with 400,000 longterm IDPs in southern central Somalia, brings Somalia's estimated total IDPs to approximately one million.
(3) USAID estimates that 335,000 Somali refugees were newly displaced in 2007, a figure which does not include long-term Somali refugees displaced in prior years. (Somalia Complex Emergency Report #1, December 20, 2007).
(4) In reality some Somali refugees, particularly adult men, have still reached Nairobi and other areas of Kenya, despite the border closure. See Section 6 below.