NAIROBI (AFP) — European deputies called Thursday for an independent probe into war crimes and rights violations in the Somali capital, where the government [and Woyanne] are battling rebels, a statement said Thursday.
The resolution, adopted by the European Parliament, “strongly condemns the serious violations of human rights committed by all parties to the conflict”.
It called for “an independent panel to investigate war crimes and human rights violations.”
The resolution also called for an immediate ceasefire and in particular an end to indiscriminate attacks on civilians.
“The African Union’s member states are pressed to provide peacekeeping troops, while the international community is urged to provide financial and logistical support for those troops,” said statement from the parliament.
Currently, there are at least 1,600 AU peacekeepers from Uganda and the pan-African group has failed to raise the 8,000 it pledged.
The resolution also called for the existing UN arms embargo on the country to be enforced.
Dozens of civilians have been killed and at least 170,000 displaced in fighting between in the recent fighting between the Union of Islamic Courts and allied Ethiopian and Transitional Federal Government (TFG) troops.
Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, speaking to reporters in Nairobi, confirmed the civilian fatalities. “When two elephants fight, the grass suffers,” he said.
The UN secretary general’s special envoy to Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, said Tuesday that war crimes suspects in the shattered African nation should be prosecuted at the International Criminal Court to end impunity.
In April, a European Union envoy to Kenya, Eric van der Linden, asked Brussels to investigate whether Ethiopian Woyanne and Somali forces had committed war crimes in their recent crackdown on Islamist and clan insurgents in Mogadishu.
Since Ethiopian Woyanne troops swept aside the Islamists who had briefly governed much of the country in April, civilians have often been caught up in the fighting, particularly in the capital Mogadishu.
Witnesses have said that Ethiopian Woyanne forces indiscriminately shot civilians in a bid to clamp down on insurgents.
The resolution also called for “the cessation of all foreign military intervention in Somalia,” apparently referring to thousands of Ethiopian Woyanne forces who were deployed to bolster Yusuf’s government.
The armed wing of the radical Islamists, Shabab, renewed its call on its fighters to attack the AU peacekeepers in their campaign to drive out pro-government forces from the Horn of African nation.
“Like Ethiopia Woyanne, Uganda also invaded our country. We will fight and assassinate their officers. All other African troops sent to Somalia will face the same fate,” said Islamist commander Adan Hashi Aryo in a message posted on a pro-Islamist website.
The Ugandan army, which has lost five troops in Mogadishu since it arrived in March, reacted coolly.
“We regard that as terrorism because our troops have not attacked them despite the shelling and killing of our troops,” Ugandan army spokesman Felix Kulaigje said.
The recent Mogadishu clashes have deepened the humanitarian crisis that has dogged the nation for 16 years, with areas just outside the city struggling to cope with the latest influx of displaced people.
Humanitarian groups have complained that insecurity has blocked them from accessing civilians blocked in Mogadishu.
The Shabelle region — Somalia’s breadbasket — has suffered its worst crop in 13 years, putting the lives of nearly a million on the edge of starvation.
Bloody clan feuds and power struggles, which intensified after the 1991 overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, have undermined repeated bids to stabilise Somalia.
5 thoughts on “European parliament calls for war crimes probe in Somalia”
I don’t think we have been doing a good enough job in this regard. We should organize Ethiopians all over the world to engage in a writing campaign to EU offcials, institutions, human right groups and most importantly the international court to document the serious crimes against humanity being committed by Meles Zenawi and his gangs. Although we may not find immediate results, our writings will be important documents in the future against this vicious killer. The genocide in Gambella, Southern Ethiopia, Amhara and other regions is good enough to bring this man to justice let alone the obvious active massacre in Somali region. All we need to do is write to EU institutions tirelessly. We should also reach out to Somali intellectuals and assist them in gathering evidence against woyane criminals. Somali intellectuals are exceptionally articulate and effective. If we help them, they can deliver justice to Meles Zenawi.
Just curious – Is Anna Gomez still an active parliamentarian of the EU? If so she may be one genuine person, true to her conscience who can guide us and share with us the best way to channel our views to EU.
We have to counter the lies being perpetrated by mercenaries like those of Vicki Huddleston, Paul Henze, Nagy Tibor – mostly to deceive the American public and US foreign policy and to maintain the status quo.
We have to also help the EU in their investigation to bring Meles the murderer of Ethiopia and Somalia to Justice. Sooner or later, the world will catch up with his psychopathic genocidal rule and face the wrath of people – No amount of justice can absolve his crime but … with hanging in Addis and dragging in the streets of Moquadisho will close our dark chapter of our nation.
Meles Zinawi and his crime family will be facing justice for the untold crime that he, as the mafia boss and the rest of the crime family as partners in crime that they have been committed against Ethiopians.
Clearly, this crime family has been suffering from mental disorder of all kinds that the entire crime family contracted while they were hiding in Nakfa Caves.
For sure, there is no need to spend tax payers’ money on curing them; it is rather that the entire crime family will face justice and receive untold punishments tantamout to the crime it has been committed.
yes, it is a good idea to doccument the crime that has been committed by Meles Zinawi and his gangs.
It is clear now the crime family of that Nazi Meles Zinawi is going to face justice soon.
Not only for looting Ethiopians that this criem family is going to face the world court, it is also the crime family faces the justice for murduring innocent Ethiopians for the past 17 years and so.
Although Meles Zinawi a complete jurk and a coward, he a known fugitive on the criminal list of the mosted wanted robbers.