Ethiopia must release mosque attack children - Amnesty Int

[N.O.R.F]

Ethiopia must release mosque attack children

 

24 April 2008

 

Ethiopian forces and forces of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia (TFG) have been accused of targeting civilians in an attack on a Mogadishu mosque on Saturday. Twenty-one people were killed in the attack, which Amnesty International has said may constitute a war crime.

 

Eleven of the twenty-one dead were killed inside the mosque, including the Iman Sheik Saiid Yahya, Sheik Abdullah Mohamud and a number of Tabliq Islamic scholars. At least ten other individuals were killed in the area around the mosque. Their bodies were later brought to the mosque by local residents.

 

Seven of the twenty-one were reported to have died after their throats were cut, a form of extra-judicial execution practised by Ethiopian forces in Somalia.

 

The mosque was raided during extensive conflict in the north eastern area of Mogadishu, in which a number of Ethiopian soldiers were reported to have been killed. According to eye-witnesses, the eleven killed inside the mosque were unarmed civilians taking no active part in hostilities. A spokesperson for the Ethiopian government has denied the involvement of Ethiopian troops in these killings.

 

Amnesty International is also concerned that approximately 41 children, estimated to range from 9 to 18 years of age, were taken by the Ethiopian military from the Al Hidya mosque where they were attending religious classes. The children are reported to be detained at the Ethiopian military base close to the pasta factory in Mogadishu. Other younger children present were not arrested.

 

Witnesses have told Amnesty International that Ethiopian forces said these children would be released "once they had been investigated" and "if they were not terrorists".

 

The Ethiopian military and TFG forces have been fighting against armed groups opposed to them for two days. The Elman Human Rights Organisation has documented 81 deaths and more than one hundred injured in the fighting. It is not known how many of these were civilians.

 

The attack on the mosque followed increasing attacks by armed groups opposed to the TFG on towns in southern and central Somalia. Local residents of Beledweyne City have reported that members of the Al-Shabab militia killed four teachers in an attack on 13 April. An Al-Shabab leader has claimed that the teachers were shot in crossfire.

 

The targeting of civilians constitutes a war crime. Amnesty International has called for international action to end impunity for crimes such as these, which are being committed in many areas of Somalia. The organization has said that the Ethiopian Government and TFG must ensure an independent investigation into these killings.

 

"Any Ethiopian soldiers found to be responsible must be prosecuted in accordance with international fair trial standards without use of the death penalty," said Amnesty International.

 

The organization is also calling on the United Nations Security Council to take action to end impunity throughout Somalia, through the establishment of an international Commission of Inquiry or similar mechanism to investigate serious human rights abuses and violations being committed in armed conflict in the country.

 

Amnesty International

[Naxar Nugaaleed]

i don't see what this has to do with Somaliland. perhaps you should be posting articles about dust storms.

[N.O.R.F]

^^Making no sense as per usual,,,,,,

[Naxar Nugaaleed]

as per usual? talk about making sense.

[N.O.R.F]

[Naxar Nugaaleed]

indeed

[N.O.R.F]

^^I take it you have never come across 'as per usual' before.

 

Somalia: Denouncing Civilian Deaths, UN Rights Expert Urges Ceasefire

 

PRESS RELEASE

23 April 2008

Posted to the web 23 April 2008

 

 

An independent United Nations human rights expert has condemned the killing of civilians in Somalia, including a number of religious leaders, and called for an immediate end to the violence that has flared up in recent weeks in the Horn of Africa nation.

 

The country has witnessed renewed violence between the troops of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), backed by the Ethiopian Army, and the anti-government insurgent forces.

 

 

"The use of heavy weaponry into areas where civilians are concentrated left reportedly 81 civilians dead and more than 100 wounded," Ghanim Alnajjar, the Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Somalia, said in a statement issued today in Geneva.

 

Mr. Alnajjar condemned in particular the alleged deliberate killing of numerous clerics belonging to "Altabligh Group" at the Alhidaya Compound/Mosque.

 

"The killings have to be investigated expeditiously and impartially, and any lasting peace in Somalia must be based on justice, truth and accountability," he stated.

 

The Independent Expert appealed for calm and an immediate ceasefire, and urged the TFG and the international community to protect civilians in Somalia, which has not had a functioning national government since 1991.

 

On Monday Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced deep concern over this weekend's heavy fighting in Mogadishu, Somalia's capital, and deplored the substantial number of civilian casualties and injuries resulting from the violence.

 

In a statement issued by his spokesperson, Mr. Ban urged parties to the conflict "to refrain from the indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force that endangers the lives of civilians, particularly in heavily populated civilian areas, and reminds them that any targeting of non-combatants is a violation of international law."

 

Rising insecurity is among the reasons that the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) believes the humanitarian situation in the strife-torn nation is deteriorating faster than expected.

 

An estimated 1.8 million people in Somalia require humanitarian assistance and that figure could increase to 2 million once current assessments are concluded, according to OCHA.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200804230786.html

[Naxar Nugaaleed]

God forbid we should go to press releases to use English, wouldn't "as usual" suffice if your objective is about making sense?

[N.O.R.F]

LoL

 

'As usual' and 'as per usual' mean the same thing and both make sense. You just havnt heard the latter being used.

[Naxar Nugaaleed]

Can you imagine meeting a friend: so, i just had my coffee as per usual? Am laughing as i write that. Little odweynish of you northnerner.

[N.O.R.F]

I use 'as per' quite often.

[LayZie G.]

in an attack on 13 April. An Al-Shabab leader has claimed that the teachers were shot in crossfire.

Alla been badanaa ninku. Going into the school compound and hunting down an innocent teacher and shooting him mercilessly.

 

I hope to allah that man gets his throat slit by the amxaaro. What a disgusting and disgraceful man he is for lying to the international community and downplaying the teacher killings.

[N.O.R.F]

^^Do you have any proof of what really happened?

[LayZie G.]

^something tells me your question is just not sincere.

 

Matter of fact, you are so convinced your so called wadaado fighters are so innocent, they can't do wrong, especially entering a school and hunting the man behind it, all for the sake of just killing him.

 

He could have ran into town, but he chose to stay near(because he didnt want to leave his staff behind) by, even after he was asked by the few men guarding the school grounds, in a near by neighbours home, and once they gained entrance to the school property and couldnt find him, they started to knock doors in the neighbouring homes and there he was, the one who is spreading christianity and bang bang bang. The man whose home was invaded and the macaling was taken from had said in his own words to the family. Like some sort of enemy of islam or sort, they shot him mercilessly.

[N.O.R.F]

^^So its one's word against another's.