Wednesday, March 25, 2009
"In 2008, the conflict in Somalia took on a new dimension with targeted killings of dozens of humanitarian workers and civil society activists," said Shamsul Bari, the UN expert for the Horn of Africa nation.
"The lack of accountability for past and current violations and abuses of human rights and international humanitarian law has further exacerbated the situation," said Bari, presenting his report to the UN Council on Human Rights.
Bari, who comes from Bangladesh, said that every party to almost two decades of conflict in Somalia was guilty of serious violations.
He drew a "grim picture" of a lawless mainly desert nation ravaged by both specific and indiscriminate violence,with "targeted attacks, abduction and killings of aid workers and human rights defenders, in particular journalists; smuggling and human trafficking; looting and extensive property destruction; as well as sexual and gender-based violence."
However, Bari argued that political and military developments since the start of the year provided "a window of opportunity for lasting peace and security in Somalia which must not be lost."
The withdrawal last January of troops from neighbouring Ethiopia, who went in to crush a powerful Islamist faction, the formation of a new government of national unity and the enlargement of a federal transitional parliament under a peace accord signed last year were promising signs, Bari said.
"I couldn't emphasise enough the need for international support to the new government to ensure the success of its mission to bring peace in Somalia," Bari said.
The UN Security Council on March 20 gave a stamp of approval to Somalia's unity government and urged increased international aid to African Union (AU) peacekeepers trying to contain the violence.
After a briefing by Somalia's new foreign minister Mohamed Abdullahi Omaar, the 15-member body adopted a non-binding statement that welcomed "the positive political developments and progress" since the UN-brokered national reconciliation talks in Djbouti.
These, it noted, included the election of President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, a moderate Islamist cleric, the establishment of an inclusive parliament and the formation of a unity government led by Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Shamarke.
Islamist fighters including the hardline Shebab militia have waged battles against the government and its allies since before Ahmed came to power, vowing to fight until all foreign forces withdraw and sharia law is imposed.
Somalia has had no effective central authority since the 1991 ouster of former president Mohamed Siad Barre.
At present, the African Union has about 3,400 troops from Uganda and Burundi in the Somali capital Mogadishu, but this falls well short of AU pledges of 8,000 peacekeeping troops.
Source: AFP, Mar 25, 2009