EPAF exhumations begin in Somaliland

[Jacaylbaro]

HARGEISA (Somalilandsun) - Truth behind enforced disappearances, extrajudicial executions, torture and other human rights violations of Somalilanders is about to be unearthed.

 

The Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team - EPAF, has begun exhumations in in the country, as part of a five-year agreement signed with the government thus unearth the truth behind an estimated 60,000 civilian deaths and hundreds of victims of enforced disappearances from 1970 to 1991.

 

The EPAF team which will also training local forensic personnel and college students of biomedical sciences in order to avail of the country relevant forensic expertise.

 

The exhumations result from the enforced disappearances, extrajudicial executions, torture and other human rights violations perpetrated during the reign of dictator Siyad Barre whose underlings are credited with the over 60,000 deaths and hundreds of unexplained disappearances

 

One of the main perpetrators in this case is General Mohamed Ali Samatar, who was Vice President and Defense Minister of the Democratic Republic of Somalia from 1980 to 1986. In January 1987, Samatar took over as Prime Minister of Somalia, until the fall of Barre dictatorship in 1990.

 

During the cause of its duties, the Jose Pablo's led EPAF team that also includes a number of international journalists is assisted by Mr. Abdiaziz Mohamed Diriye who was part of the team that brought Gen Ali Samatar to justice in the USA where he was found guilty of committing atrocities against Somalilanders and fine $21 Million.

 

While informing that most of the mass graves documented has a minimum of 12 corpses the national Massacre investigations committee, which is supporting the EPAF, work, gave the following breakdown of mass graves so far identified:

 

I. Hargeisa (Maroodi-Jeeh region) - 200 mass graves

II. Berbera (Sahil region) - 12 mass graves

III. Burao (Togdheer region) - 8 mass graves

IV. Sheikh (Sahil region) - 1 mass grave

V. Erigavo (Sanaag region) - 2 mass graves

VI. Arabsiyo (Gabile region) - 1 mass grave

 

The Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team (EPAF) is a non-profit organization that promotes the right to truth, justice, and guarantees of non-repetition in cases of forced disappearance and extrajudicial execution. EPAF seeks to contribute to the consolidation of peace and democracy where grave human rights violations have taken place by working alongside the families of the disappeared to find their loved ones, gain access to justice, and improve the conditions affecting their political and economic development.

 

To achieve these goals, EPAF works in four principal areas: Forensic Investigation, Historical Memory, Forensic Training, and Human Development.

[Carafaat]

its good to seek the truth and facts on these massgraves.

[Xaaji Xunjuf]

This victim mentality needs to stop ASAP.

 

How long baad ku haynaysaan wala na laayey this is embarrassing.

[oba hiloowlow]

I support this

[Somalia]

60,000, in what world? :confused:

 

I call on Hargeisa to extradite the men behind the massacres in Mudug during the early 1980s to Gaalkacyo where they will face justice, if justice is what you are looking for that is.

[oba hiloowlow]

somalia mooge believe his clan lost 200 000 people by hutu savages lol

[Somalia]

No, not Hutu, I am talking about Kacaan loyalists from Somaliland which led the first massacres during the 1980s, especially in Mudug areas where they imprisoned, killed and raped. A Khaatumo native even went as far as saying it was xalaal to do such things, a man who is alive today and living comfortably in continental Europe.

 

So, I therefore ask Jacaylbaro who is making up 60,000 (notice, it's not even 50,000 anymore, it has been upgraded) to facilitate the smooth transfer of the accused if they really want justice.

[AfricaOwn]

Xaaji Xunjuf;874896 wrote:

This victim mentality needs to stop ASAP.

 

How long baad ku haynaysaan wala na laayey this is embarrassing.

I totally agree, this is unnecessary and needs to stop. I hope that we're not politicizing the death of Slanders.

[Abwaan]

Xaaji Xunjuf;874896 wrote:

This victim mentality needs to stop ASAP.

 

How long baad ku haynaysaan wala na laayey this is embarrassing.

XX waa runtaa, dadkaan dhintay maxaa lafahooda looga inkaarsan? Meydkii lafahaan ka hareen Waqooyi iyo Koofurba waa ka soo jeedaan, sidaan is leeyahay.

[Naxar Nugaaleed]

Nothing will come if this but a waste of resources, I guess if it helps people but if whites and blacks can over their differences, surely Somalis can too. We should follow the Homegrown model that South Africans have used rather then this

[Tillamook]

Like clockwork, this is becoming an annual bacaac for the secessionists.... JB has this sort of thread every year , but unfortunately, the sinews and bones of the dead have not yet yielded the much sort after recognition and holocaust type status that they desire.

 

Click here for last year's bacaac

[Wiil Cusub]

Abwaan;874959 wrote:

XX waa runtaa, dadkaan dhintay maxaa lafahooda looga inkaarsan? Meydkii lafahaan ka hareen

Waqooyi iyo Koofurba waa ka soo jeedaan

, sidaan is leeyahay.

Lafaha kuwii dilay ee haleeli waayay inay si bini-aadanimo/ muslinimo ah u aasaan ayaa ka inkaarsaday. Taariikhda iyo xaqiiqada in la raadiyaa waxay u dawo tahay ka nool si aan khaladka mar kale loogu dhicin. Balse inta aad taariikhda beenta ka sheegaysaan bogsan mayno oo nasan mayno.

Xaaji Xunjuf;874896 wrote:

This victim mentality needs to stop ASAP.

 

How long baad ku haynaysaan wala na laayey this is embarrassing.

Shame on XX Inta intoo afka la qaloociyo dafiraad lala soo indha cadyahay, inta dabinkii aan hore ugu dhacay mar kale la ila goobaayo ma daynaayo raadinta iyo soo shaac bixinta xaqdaradii meesha ka dhactay. XX wax fahan waa drive-ka and unified factor of SL

[Tallaabo]

Xaaji Xunjuf;874896 wrote:

This victim mentality needs to stop ASAP.

 

How long baad ku haynaysaan wala na laayey this is embarrassing.

If you did not lose a relative in the genocide, spare a thought for those who still do not know whether their loved ones are dead or alive.

[Tallaabo]

Somalia;874902 wrote:

60,000, in what world? :confused:

 

I call on Hargeisa to extradite the men behind the massacres in Mudug during the early 1980s to Gaalkacyo where they will face justice, if justice is what you are looking for that is.

I support your call for justice. No war criminal should escape justice. No community should protect war criminals, it is un-Islamic.

[Siciid1986]

 

Unearthing a Smile

 

This experience has been so far the most wonderful, terrifying, and exciting thing I have ever done. To be able to change someone's fate by retrieving them from a pit of horror and return them to their family and loved ones for a future with a proper burial full of respect and love is the most honourable thing I have ever had the opportunity to partake in. I mean yes, you can say it is spooky or even that we are weird for traveling thousands of kilometres and crossing an ocean to spend time with dead people... But the people who say those things have only a partial view of what we do. We are reuniting families, giving explanations for what has happened to somebody's somebody, and interpreting the past. It is a rush that motivates you from your inner core and moves you to keep going, keep learning, keep pursuing the truth. The people who do this as part of their daily lives are anything but weird and are not scared off by the...spooky; they are heroic, and we are lucky to have been given the chance to work beside them.

 

The first skull we recovered was at first a little unnerving. I wasn't sure if I would be able to sleep without seeing it in my dreams, but then I noticed his teeth were perfectly straight, and I thought to myself, he must have had a nice smile. His shirt has cuffs like mine, and it was the same colour as the one my boyfriend was wearing before I left for this amazing journey. Then I heard Franco say he looks young, like a teenager, and I thought that if that had been my fate I would hope someone would come find me and give me the respect I deserve by putting me in a proper resting place — one where my family could come visit and talk about my smile, and laugh about how clutzy I am. So I will be resting well tonight and the following nights to come, knowing that I am part of helping return the boy with the beautifully straight teeth to a place of respect and dignity, and hopefully one day his family will be able to find him again and learn where his resting place is so they can get together and speak of his smile and quirks.

 

-Melissa Simmill

CJA Somaliland Field School Blog

 

With CJA's sponsorship, the Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team and the government of the self-declared Republic of Somaliland have opened an international forensic training program in Hargeisa, Somaliland. The project runs from September 24 through October 21, 2012. Participants in this historic effort will share their experience with the rest of the world throughout that time. Their posts will inform and reflect on the search for the missing and disappeared, giving readers a window into the process of fact-finding and forensic investigation of human rights violations in Somaliland that will allow access to truth and justice for the families of the victims.