UN to probe Somalia rights abuses

[Castro]

Now we know why Holmes cut his Mogadishu trip short. The criminal house of cards is falling apart.

 

The UN is to investigate claims of human rights violations committed during recent fighting in the Somali capital, a senior official has said.

 

John Holmes, the UN's emergency humanitarian co-ordinator, said Somalia had agreed to a UN inquiry into recent fighting that killed an estimated 1,400 people and led to a civilian exodus from Mogadishu.

 

"I raised the claims that there have been massive abuses of international law," Holmes said in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

 

Holmes visited Mogadishu on Saturday, but cut short his trip after an explosion near a UN compound killed three people.

 

The Somali government denies responsibility for alleged human rights violations, but will allow a visit by Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

 

"Clearly, there were major problems, major abuses during that period," Holmes said.

 

Ethiopian forces helped Somali troops rout the Union of Islamic Courts movement from south and central Somalia, including Mogadishu, at the start of the year.

 

Fighters opposed to the government have since then mounted an armed campaign against soldiers and Ethiopian troops, with violence peaking during March and April in Mogadishu.

 

Two bouts of heavy clashes in March and April resulted in more than 300,000 people fleeing Mogadishu, and triggered what the UN called "the world's worst humanitarian crisis".

 

Aid problems

 

Holmes said aid was reaching only 35 to 40 per cent of those in need due to difficulties linked to access and security.

 

"In terms of numbers and access to them, Somalia is a worse displacement crisis than Darfur or Chad or anywhere else this year," he said.

 

Aid workers complained that Somali authorities had failed to clear food shipments for distribution and said they were being harassed at checkpoints.

 

Since then, the government has promised to clear obstacles in providing aid to tens of thousands of people.

 

The EU is to also step up humanitarian assistance, and is ready to help disarm, and re-integrate fighters opposed to the government.

Al Jazeera

[Castro]

UN official wants inquiry into Somali 'war crimes'

 

By Steve Bloomfield in Nairobi

Published: 15 May 2007

 

A senior United Nations official has called for an investigation into allegations of war crimes in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, following weeks of fighting that has left more than 1,600 people dead and caused hundreds of thousands to flee.

 

Sir John Holmes, the UN's emergency relief co-ordinator, who visited Mogadishu on Saturday, said there was "clearly a need" for an investigation by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour.

 

Ethiopian tanks and helicopters bombarded Mogadishu residential districts during weeks of fighting in March and April as Somalia's Ethiopian-backed interim government attempted to pacify an insurgency. Civilians were caught in the crossfire of what the Red Cross described as the worst fighting in the capital for 15 years.

 

Human rights groups and regional analysts have accused the government and the Ethiopian forces of committing war crimes. Sir John said Somalia's interim President, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, and interim Prime Minister, Ali Mohamed Gedi, had agreed there should be an investigation. "They accepted it very clearly," he said.

 

Jose Diaz, a spokesman for Ms Arbour, confirmed that the UN was ready to send a team of human rights investigators to Mogadishu. "It is good to hear that this is the government's position. It needs urgent attention," he said.

 

Up to 400,000 people have fled the capital since the insurgency began at the end of January. A further 300,000 are believed to be displaced within the city. The fighting has made it difficult for aid agencies to reach those in need and the majority of those who fled Mogadishu are still without any humanitarian assistance.

 

Some Somali businessmen have sought to take advantage of the situation. In some areas, the price of water has risen by 2,000 per cent, while in others a "shade tax" has been introduced, charging women and children to sit under a tree.

 

According to the Food Security Analysis Unit, prices for food, rent and transport have risen by between 30 and 70 per cent in the past four weeks.

 

Sir John warned that, with the rainy season imminent, the humanitarian situation could get much worse. "It is easy to imagine the worst-case scenario when 300,000 people are still out there without shelter," he said. "There is already a lot of acute watery diarrhoea and cholera and that could get much worse"

 

The Horn of Africa experienced its worst flood season in a decade last year. Any repeat this year would be terrible, he said.

 

Sir John is the most senior UN official to visit Mogadishu since 1993 but the trip did not go to plan. Three bombs went off on Saturday and a fourth was diffused. "It began to look as if a message was being sent," he said. Planned visits to a hospital plus a tour of the city were cancelled.

 

He had also hoped to stay the night in Mogadishu before visiting Jowhar, a town 55 miles to the north, where many of the residents have fled. But security concerns led to the trip's cancellation.

 

The attacks on Saturday underlined the fragility of the security situation. Few analysts believe the insurgency has ended and many see the fighting as an inter-clan conflict between the *****-led government and the ******, which dominates Mogadishu. A national reconciliation conference, which international observers hoped would bring moderate leaders from the former Union of Islamic Courts into the government, has been postponed twice.

 

Ethiopian troops are still in Somalia. Analysts say that the Somali government is still so fragile that if Ethiopia were to withdraw its troops the government could collapse.

Independent.co.uk

[N.O.R.F]

Aha, now we really know 'why' he visited. To assess a case for human rights abuses. Not the PR exercise the intelectually challenged TFG wanted LoL.

[BiLaaL]

John Holmes:

"Clearly, human rights abuses have taken place,

but the government categorically denied reports and accusations of their involvement ".

Guilty as charged.

[Tahliil]

What? Is this Holmes guy insane...out of touch with reality?? this barely constitutes a genocide, read the numbers here in just 11 days of actual fighting:

 

few thousands dead, some estimates close to 9000,

 

thousands displaced about 580,000

 

thousands more wounded; close to 83,000,

 

Nearly 500,000 mostly women and children in the open dying of hunger and diseases as we speak

 

Estimates unknown but hunderds disappeared,

 

and another large number imprisoned in the ethiopian gulags.

 

Nothing more Mr. Holmes but a mop up operation which the whole world even North Korea put its stump of approval on it...