Amnesty International Report 1999 - Somalia

SOMALIA

Dozens of deliberate and arbitrary killings of unarmed civilians were carried out by militias of clan-based factions. Human rights abuses by clan militias included hostage-taking and rape. Some prisoners of conscience were held in Somaliland. Islamic and clan courts condemned to death several prisoners who were subsequently executed.

A national reconciliation conference planned in 1997 (see Amnesty International Report 1998) was repeatedly postponed on account of disagreements between political factions and had not taken place by the end of the year. There was no further progress towards establishing a central transitional government. Mediation efforts by the un, the Inter-Governmental Authority for Develop- ment, governments in the region and the European Union, were also unsuccessful. The Somaliland Republic in the northwest continued to seek international recognition, and in July a new "Puntland State" was declared in the northeast by the ruling political group there, the Democratic Front for the Salvation of Somalia. Its Charter said that it would be an integral part of a future federal Somalia and would respect human rights.

In August the two main political factions in Mogadishu, led by Ali Mahdi and by Hussein Aideed, formed a joint committee for the surrounding Benadir region and established a locally funded police force. However, they were opposed by three other factions and consequently the port and airport had not been reopened by the end of the year. Faction fighting broke out sporadically in Mogadishu throughout the year, but in and around Kismayu port in the south there was sustained fighting between the Majarten clan militias of the Somali Patriotic Movement and the Marehan clan militias of the Somali National Front (SNF). In the central Bay and Bakol regions there was fighting throughout the year between Hussein Aideed's Somali National Alliance militias, which had captured Baidoa town in 1995, and the Rahenweyn Resistance Army. In August an uneasy peace was made between the SNF and the Al-Itihad al-Islam force in Gedo region, but all other regions in the south experienced flare-ups of fighting during the year.

In February the UN Independent Expert on human rights in Somalia issued her report to the UN Commission on Human Rights. She called on all the warring factions to respect human rights and humanitarian law. Her recommendations included a program of technical cooperation to support human rights advocacy groups and establish the rule of law, the appointment of a human rights field officer, and the integration of human rights into UN programs. In April the Commission endorsed these proposals.

The conduct of UN peace-keeping troops in Somalia in 1993 and 1994 continued to be the subject of government investigations. In Italy in May the second report of a commission of inquiry was published, and in September a Canadian commission of inquiry published a 10-volume report. In Belgium criminal proceedings continued during the year (see Belgium and Italy entries).

Human rights abuses by faction militias were committed with impunity. There were hundreds of killings of unarmed civilians. Journalists and human rights activists were targeted. One person, Ahmed Mohamed Ibrahim, was shot dead at a peace rally in Mogadishu in July. Two Islamic court officials were assassinated in August. Members of vulnerable minority communities, such as Bantu agriculturalists and artisan "castes", and of the wealthier Benadiri business community, continued to be at risk of arbitrary killing, looting and rape.

There were many incidents of hostage-taking. Ten International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) staff in Mogadishu were kidnapped in April by gunmen who threatened to kill them. The kidnapping, ostensibly for ransom, seemed to have a political motivation too, and some connection to clan militias. All 10 hostages were released unharmed after two weeks. A Somaliland opposition leader, Suleiman Mohamed Aden (also known as "Gal"), was kidnapped by gunmen in May in an inter-clan dispute and held for two weeks. There were attacks on UN staff and workers for non-governmental organizations (NGOs); some were killed, others were abducted for short periods. In October a new Islamic court in south Mogadishu sentenced six gunmen to one-year prison terms for kidnapping an Italian nun. In general, there was no rule of law or consistent application of justice in most parts of the collapsed state.

Prisoners of conscience held in Somaliland included media workers who were arrested on several occasions on account of published articles. The chief editor of Jamhuriya, Hassan Said Yusuf, was arrested on four occasions between May and September for publishing articles criticizing President Mohamed Ibrahim Egal's government. He was held for a total of six weeks without charge. Yasin Mohamed Ismail, editor of The Republican, Jamhuriya's English language publication, was also arrested and held for several days without charge. Iid Jama Mohamed, a journalist on the Himilo newspaper, was detained in Berbera in October, accused of publishing false information. He was released after some weeks without charge.

Prisoner of conscience Ahmed Farah Jirreh, a businessman in Hargeisa, the Somaliland capital, was detained in September by the Somaliland security authorities who claimed that a community road building project he had initiated was subversive. The Regional Security Committee (RSC) in Hargeisa, consisting of the mayor and the police and prison commanders, imposed a one-year prison sentence on him, although he was never charged or tried. The RSC had also detained 20 youths and children, including three sisters aged between 10 and 13 years who were released after a week, and imposed one-year prison sentences on them without any trial process, for alleged offences against public order. Ahmed Farah Jirreh was released in November but other RSC detainees were reportedly still held at the end of the year.

Several people were executed after being condemned to death by Islamic or clan courts in trials which fell short of international standards. In Beletweyn in October, Tofay Abdullah Ahmed was arrested immediately after the murder of her husband, sentenced to death by an Islamic court and executed, all on the same day.

During the year Amnesty International condemned human rights abuses by faction militias and called on them to respect human rights. In October Amnesty International representatives held a workshop for NGO workers in Somaliland on human rights awareness and action. The representatives also met members of the Somaliland authorities to discuss human rights issues. They appealed for the release of prisoners of conscience and called for an immediate end to administrative detention by the RSC.