Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a report detailing violations of humanitarian law and the laws of war committed by both sides in the ongoing conflict in Somalia. The group said Ethiopian and Somalian troops routinely and indiscriminately bomb heavily populated civilian neighborhoods in an effort to root out insurgents, who themselves deploy among civilian populations. The report, titled “Shell-Shocked: Civilians Under Siege in Mogadishu”, figures at least 400 to 1,300 civilians were killed during conflicts in late 2006. The report focused the brunt of its criticism on the Ethiopian army, which it claims targeted non-military targets and executed civilians.
The African Union (A.U.) has faced little enthusiasm for missions in Somalia. The A.U. has a mandate for a 26,000 strong hybrid force with the United Nations to monitor activities in the troubled Darfur region. The A.U. mandate for Somalia, however, has called for 8,000 troops, with only 1,600 have been actively deployed. The HRW report claims the crisis in Somalia has largely been ignored, noting that the mission signaled the A.U. “was apparently unwilling to act” in the region.
Somalia has been embroiled in conflict since 1991 and has largely been overshadowed by the larger crisis in Darfur. Since 2006, Ethiopian and Somali troops have been battling an insurgent inspired by Islamic fundamentalist groups and the conflict there has resulted in a humanitarian crisis not seen in over a decade. In the early 90's, the international community intervened in Somalia to prevent humanitarian disaster and to root out rebel leaders. The effort was largely abandoned after The Battle of Mogadishu resulted in the death American soldiers – famously depicted in the film “Black Hawk Down.”
The HRW report criticizes the neglect from the international community, stating that the situation in Somalia “is a conflict that has been marked by numerous violations of international humanitarian law that have been met with a shameful silence.”
