SOMALIA: One woman’s battle against the war lords

Monday, November 24, 2008 

BY Maxine Myers

 

Zam Zam Abdullahi Abdi knows firsthand the spiralling crisis facing Somalia.

The human rights worker from Mogadishu, the country’s capital, has seen the effect of a conflict in a country weakened by decades of fighting.

 

It’s been nearly 20 years since Somalia had an effective central government and years of fighting between rival warlords have left the African nation ravaged with famine and disease.

 

Abdullahi Abdi, who was in London recently to talk about the issue, said the situation in her native homeland has become more desperate.

 

“People are getting killed constantly and it seems to be getting worse. Day after day it’s getting more violent and the violence is more organised,” she told The Voice.

 

Human rights organisation Amnesty International, agree.

 

They have reported it is not only locals who are getting killed. At least 40 humanitarian workers this year alone have been murdered by armed groups and militias.

 

In a report entitled 'Fatal insecurity: attacks on aid workers and rights defenders in Somalia’ Amnesty stated that many aid organisations have had to suspend programmes and withdraw staff.

 

This couldn’t come at a worse time. Somalia is in the middle of a humanitarian emergency with the United Nations estimating that around 3.25 million Somalis will require food aid until the end of 2008.

 

Abdullahi Abdi does what she can. She helps counsel women and offer advice to women who have been subjected to brutal attacks and says her work reveals that militia and armed groups in Somalia are growing ever more powerful.

 

DEATH THREATS: Zam Zam Abdullahi Abdi

“I deal with women who have experienced a wide range of problems. Some have been raped by men from the militia. They rape them in front of their husbands or brothers so that they can displace communities and humiliate the men,” she said.

 

 

Worryingly, women in Somalia are being subjected to the worse forms of treatment according to Abdullahi Abdi, who said her organisation has documented 1,000 cases of violence against women.

 

She told of a recent case where 13-year-old girl who was stoned to death by 50 men despite the fact she had been raped by three men. The victim’s father said when the family tried to report the vicious attack, the girl was accused of adultery and punished under Sharia law by officials.

 

The horrific punishment is a clear example of the plight facing some women in Somalia, Abdullahi Abdi explained.

 

“This never used to happen under the Somali tradition. It’s something new that a certain group of people are carrying out. This case will put women in a more vulnerable position,” she said.

 

Abdullahi Abdi provides a voice for women in Somalia who are too frightened to speak out. But her work is dangerous and she too has paid a heavy penalty for wanting to protect them.

 

In 2004, she was kidnapped by the militia.

 

“In October I was held hostage for 32 hours. They did it to scare me and I was just glad to be released,” she recalled.

 

Since then, she has faced many death threats and some of her colleagues have ‘disappeared.’ The militia have boasted about killing them.

 

This year, she was forced to flee to neighbouring Uganda for protection.

 

“The worst thing in the world is being a refugee in a country that isn’t yours. I’d rather be back in Somalia doing my work but I’m too scared to go back,” she told The Voice.

 

Aid workers are systematically targeted because of a widespread assumption that humanitarian agencies are spies for western governments.

 

Abdullahi Abdi said she feels other African nations are reluctant to intervene.

 

“I am able to an extent to carry out my work but the government of Uganda, I think are scared because they feel that they could be attacked,” she said.

 

These escalating waves of attacks have prompted Amnesty International to call on the international community to act now.

 

“They need to be more engaged, there hasn’t been the level of engagement on Somalia that there needs to be” said David Copeman, Amnesty International’s Somalia Campaigner.

 

Somalia is now considered to be one of the most dangerous countries in the world.

 

The current Somali government is internationally recognised but it has lost control of large parts of the country to an insurgency driven by Islamist and nationalist groups.

 

Copeman told The Voice the international community must understand the complex situation in Somalia in order to help bring an end to the conflict there.

 

He says that foreign governments must do more to bring war lords to justice and implement a tougher arms embargo.

 

“We are calling for a stop to the flow of arms that are being used to attack civilians. The mortars and the artillery are being brought in from outside and the current arms embargo needs to be enforced,” he said.

 

Abdullahi Abdi agrees. She worries that if action isn’t taken soon, millions of lives, including her own, will continue to be at risk.

 

“It’s hard to think about the future because we are worried for our lives and how long we can survive,” she stated.

 

Despite this, Abdullahi Abdi is desperate to return home and still has hope that this long running conflict can reach a peaceful conclusion.

 

“If the Somali government and the international government really support the peace process by targeting the warlords then they can be some kind of end,” she said.

 

Source: Voice Online, November 24, 2008