Somalia more dangerous for civilians than Afghanistan or Iraq, rights group warns

Somalia more dangerous for civilians than Afghanistan or Iraq, rights group warns

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Somalia is more dangerous for civilians than Afghanistan or Iraq, a human rights group has said.

The only ambulance service in the war-torn capital Mogadishu said more than 4,200 bystanders had been killed in gun battles over the last two years.

The seaside capital sees frequent barrages of mortars, rockets and artillery shells fired between Islamist insurgents and pro-government forces which protect the sliver of land controlled by the UN and U.S.-backed Somali government.

Dangerous: A member of the Islamist Al Shabaab rebel group carries a machine gun after attending prayers north of Mogadishu, Somalia. More than 4,000 civilians have been killed in the capital in the last two years

Ali Muse, head of the city's Lifeline Africa Ambulance Service, blamed pro-government forces from the African Union (AU) and Somali troops for the majority of civilian deaths - around 80 per cent.

'All of those victims are civilians killed either by stray bullets or hit by mortars or by artillery shells.

'About 80 per cent of them died at Bakara market, which is the main target of the Africa Union peacekeepers.'

Human rights groups and Mogadishu residents have repeatedly accused the African Union of indiscriminately targeting populated areas of the city with artillery fire after insurgents target its troops with mortars.

Sarah Holewinski, executive director of Civic - the U.S.-based Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict - said civilians bore the brunt of war in Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan.

But she said Somalia was the most dangerous because neither side abided by international law obligations.


'Al-Shabab hides out in civilian markets, blasts the government or Amisom (AU) bases and then runs, so by the time Amisom fires back they're already gone,' she said.

'When Amisom does fire back, they do so indiscriminately and often kill civilians. This despite rhetoric from Amisom that they abide by international laws and never want to kill civilians.'

The AU, in a rare admission of civilian casualties, apologised for the deaths of two Somalis after a convoy of its troops opened fire on a crowd on Tuesday. Seven people were also wounded.

General Nathan Mugisha said the soldiers responsible had been arrested. The AU, primarily comprised of troops from Uganda and Burundi, were in Mogadishu to protect civilians, he added.

'We came here to help the Somali people to restore the peace and stability, but we did not come here to kill or wound any Somali,' he said.

Some 2,171 civilians were killed between January and the end of October. Last year, 2,089 were killed in the capital.

The Iraq Body Count, a private British-based group that has tracked civilian deaths in Iraq since March 2003, estimates 107,000 have been killed.

And the Afghanistan Rights Monitor reported 1,074 civilian deaths during the first half of 2010.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since clan-based warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on each other.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1333022/Somalia-dangerous-civilians-Afghanistan-Iraq-rights-group-warns.html#ixzz16L3lOeqp