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Somalia conflict exacting terrible toll on civilians, Al Shabaab responsible for most casualties

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SHABAAB Armed conflict in Somalia continues to exact a heavy toll on civilians, damaging infrastructure and livelihoods, displacing millions of people, and impeding access to humanitarian relief for communities in need, a UN report published on Sunday said.

Entitled “Protection of Civilians: Building the Foundation for Peace, Security and Human Rights in Somalia,” the report by the UN Human Rights Office and the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) covers the period from 1 January 2016 to 14 October 2017.

During this period, UNSOM documented a total of 2,078 civilian deaths and 2,507 injuries. More than half the casualties (60 per cent) were attributed to Al Shabaab militants, 13 per cent to clan militias, 11 per cent to State actors, including the army and the police, four per cent to the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM), and 12 per cent to unidentified or undetermined attackers.

“Ultimately, civilians are paying the price for failure to resolve Somalia’s conflicts through political means,” said the head of UNSOM, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Somalia Michael Keating. “And parties to the conflict are simply not doing enough to shield civilians from the violence. This is shameful.”

Civilians were the victims of unlawful attacks – by being directly targeted and through the use of indiscriminate bomb and suicide attacks – by non-State groups. Such attacks, which are prohibited under international human rights and humanitarian laws, are, in most cases, likely to constitute war crimes, and it is imperative that perpetrators are identified and held accountable, the report says.

The worst incident on a single day was the twin bomb blasts in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, on 14 October, attributed to Al-Shabaab by Somali government officials, in which at least 512 people are officially recorded to have died as of 1 December, along with 357 injured.

“This barbaric act was the deadliest attack with an improved explosive device (IED) in Somalia’s history and surely one of the worst ever on the continent, if not the world,” Special Representative Keating said. “Sadly, its impact will be felt for a long time.”

A significant number of recorded civilian casualties – 251 killed and 343 injured – was attributed to clan militias, in areas where federal or state security forces are largely absent. “The drought has intensified clan conflict due to competition over resources. These conflicts are exploited by anti-government elements to further destabilize areas, diminish prospects for lasting peace and weaken civilian protection,” the report states.

It goes on to note that although the number of casualties attributed to the Somali National Army and Police, as well as AMISOM, was significantly smaller than those attributed to Al Shabaab militants.

“Nevertheless, such casualties are of utmost concern as they undermine the Somali population’s trust in the Government and the international community, which in turn expands the space in which anti-government elements continue to operate,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein.

“While achieving the balance between human rights and security is challenging, the respect of human rights and the protection of civilians are essential as the foundation of a strong, legitimate State that works for the benefit of all its people,” he said.

Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency routinely disregards international human rights law when carrying out arrests and detentions, according to the report, which adds that journalists and people suspected of belonging to Al Shabaab are often detained without charge.

The report flags that information on the conditions of people living under Al Shabaab control is scant. Verifying human rights violations and abuses in those areas remains problematic due to the lack of access and fear of reprisals.

The conflict has disproportionately affected children, exposing them to “grave violations during military operations, including killing, maiming and arrest and detention by Somali security forces,” the report says. In addition, reports of recruitment of children increased sharply. In the first 10 months of 2017, some 3.335 cases of child recruitment were reported – 71.5 per cent attributed to Al Shabaab, 14.6 per cent to clan militia, and 7.4 per cent to the Somali National Army.

In line with international humanitarian law, the primary responsibility for protecting civilians lies with the parties involved in the conflict and the Somali authorities. According to UNSOM, while there have been some positive developments, much remains to be done to achieve an adequate level of protection for civilians.

The UN Mission considers the implementation of an agreement on Somalia’s National Security Architecture – reached by the Federal Government and the Federal Member States in April this year – as central to achieving sustainable security sector reform.
The agreement provides an opportunity to ensure that Somali-led security institutions are accountable and can protect citizens in accordance with international human rights law and international humanitarian law, with the continued support of the United Nations and the international community.

Among its recommendations, the report urges parties to the conflict to take all feasible precautions to protect civilians and civilian installations by ceasing the use of all IEDs and the firing of mortars, rockets and grenades from and into populated areas. The report also calls for all unlawful armed groups and militia to be disbanded.

In addition, the report encourages AMISOM to strengthen its accountability measures regarding incidents involving civilians, by conducting effective investigations and judicial proceedings concerning serious allegations attributed to AMISOM and other international troops, holding perpetrators accountable and providing adequate assistance and effective remedies for victims.

The report also urges the Federal Government and Federal Member States to adopt the legislative and policy measures, including with respect to law enforcement, to ensure the effective investigation and prosecution of serious violations and abuses of international human rights law and humanitarian laws, and an effective remedy.

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Somali News

Government Forces Raided The Residence of Former Presidential Candidate Abdirahman Abdishakur

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Somali security forces have raided the residence of a former presidential candidate and a fierce critic of the current government Abdirahman Abdishakurt, early reports say that Abdirahman himself was wounded in this attack.

Abdishakur and another politician identified as Sayid Ali were both arrested: security sources

Five of the opposition leader’s bodyguards were killed in the firefight with security agents identified as NISA.

“He was in meeting with several Mps from our party when the raid occurred. He was injured on his hand and is now under Nisa custody” Ismail Farah Dirie the secretary of Wadajir Party told Dalsan Radio in a phone interview.

“The government forces attacked our HQ with armed vehicles shelling the house for around 20 minutes with heavy guns and ammunitions so far 4 of our guards has(sic) been killed by Villa Somalia militia” Kamal Gutale the Chairman Wadajir party tweeted.

The MPs are said to have been meeting with their leader over Sundays press conference by the Attorney General seeking arrest of two opposition Mps.

The security agents said they were acting on a warrant of arrest issued late Sunday by the Attorney General.

Abdishakur is a former Minister and the leader of the opposition Wadajir Party.

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Somali News

Farah crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year

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LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s Olympic and world champion Mo Farah capped his final season as a track athlete by winning the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award on Sunday.

The distance runner, who won his sixth world championships gold medal in London this year when he triumphed in the 10,000 metres, was named the winner ahead of second-placed superbike rider Jonathan Rea and para athlete Jonnie Peacock.

Pre-event favourites, world heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua and Formula One world title holder Lewis Hamilton, failed to make the top three.

Farah, who was born in Somalia and moved to Britain at the age of eight, won 5,000m and 10,000m gold at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics as well as six world titles in those distances.

The 34-year-old, who ended his track career this year to concentrate on road running, looked stunned when he was awarded the trophy by his step-daughter Rihanna in a studio in London.

He was denied the chance to tell viewers how he felt as the BBC’s live satellite link to the ceremony in Liverpool’s Echo Arena cut out seconds later.

After the show went off air, Farah, appearing close to tears, spoke to those inside the arena saying he was shocked to win due to the quality of the other athletes.

“It is pretty amazing and hard to think about. I didn’t imagine I was every going to win this but… anything can happen. If you work hard you can achieve your dreams.

Other winners included:

Overseas Sports Personality of the Year – Swiss Roger Federer for winning a record eighth Wimbledon tennis title and taking his overall grand slam tally to a record 19

Lifetime Achievement – retired Olympic heptathlete champion Jessica Ennis-Hill

Coach of the Year – Benke Blomkvist, Stephen Maguire and Christian Malcolm for guiding Britain’s men’s 4x100m team to world gold

Team of the Year – England women’s cricket team for winning the World Cup by beating India in the final

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Somali News

Somalia Attorney General blames Two MPs for treason

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Somalia Attorney General Ahmed Ali Dahir accuses two lawmakers of “treason”, asks parliament to remove their immunity for prosecution.

MOGADISHU (Horn Observer) Somalia’s Attorney General Dr. Ahmed ALi Dahir on Sunday said that his office seeks charges against two lawmakers who are accused for conspiring against the state and asked for the Somali Parliament to strip the immunity.

In a press conference held in Mogadishu Dr. Ahmed Ali Dahir  accused Hassan Moalim Mohamoud and Abdisabir Nor Shuriye who received money from foreign countries to use against the state and pointed out the necessity to take immediate legal actions against them. Dr. Dahir pointed out that the Criminal investigation units have legal authority to investigate any crimes or suspicion in accordance with the law.

“In the light of light, we have submitted the speaker of the parliament documents, along all available evidences, against two lawmakers who are accused of treason charges, to strip the immunity in order for them to be tried and the remaining investigation be completed.” Somalia’s Attorney General Dr. Ahmed ALi Dahir said,  “The lawmaker has an immunity, but that does not mean that he is above the law and we are therefore requesting the honourable parliament to strip the immunity from those lawmakers in order to be able to bring them before the law.”

This is the first time the Attorney General requests from the parliament to strip immunity from lawmakers accused of treason charges and its not clear how the parliament would react the attorney general’s request.

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