Ethiopian forces backing the Somali transitional government violated the laws of war by widely and indiscriminately bombarding highly populated areas of Mogadishu with rockets, mortars and artillery. Its troops on several occasions specifically targeted hospitals and looted them of desperately needed medical equipment. Human Rights Watch also documented cases of Ethiopian forces deliberately shooting and summarily executing civilians.
Somali transitional government forces played a secondary role to the Ethiopian military, but failed to provide effective warnings to civilians in combat zones, looted property, impeded relief efforts for displaced people, and mistreated dozens of people detained in mass arrests.
Tens of thousands of displaced people are living in desperate circumstances without sufficient food, water, shelter or medical supplies, easy prey to extortion and abuse by the warring parties.
Ethiopian and Somali Transitional Government claims that the armed opposition was defeated in April have been undermined in subsequent months by the almost daily incidents of violence, many of which do untold damage to civilians.
The Counterproductive Role of the United States
The United States has significant leverage over Ethiopia in the form of foreign aid and political influence. It is viewed regionally as the Ethiopian government’s main backer and implicitly—if not directly—responsible for the Ethiopian government’s conduct. Therefore, US support for Ethiopia’s abusive counter insurgency efforts in the Horn of Africa threatens to make the United States complicit in continuing laws of war violations by the Ethiopian government.
From a practical and policy point of view, which may be of significant interest to this Committee and the US Congress, the US support for Ethiopia in its conflicts in the Somali Region and inside Somalia is ineffective and counterproductive. It is now clearly understood that a counterinsurgency cannot be won from the barrel of a gun alone.
The current US-backed Ethiopian approach will lead to a mountain of civilian deaths and a litany of abuses. The policy risks precipitating exactly the sort of human-rights disaster in Somalia as the one rightly condemned in Darfur. This approach will only strengthen the hand of the extremist minority in Somalia. The ENDF’s tactics could lead to the escalation and spread of the conflicts of the region and may well help to radicalize the region’s large and young Muslim population.
The Administration should rethink a policy which is encouraging serious abuses, and come up with one which prioritizes the protection of civilians. Washington should start by issuing a clear call to all sides in these conflicts, including Ethiopia, to observe and uphold the rules of war and human-rights standards.
Recommendations:
The onset of the rainy season in late September is likely to temporarily suspend military operations. That could provide a reprieve during which diplomatic efforts might be promising. The Administration should abandon its current policy of what amounts to “silent diplomacy” on human rights issues, which has yielded no tangible dividends. Instead the Administration should:
· Conduct a full policy review on the Horn of Africa.
· Press for full, independent investigations of human rights abuses in Ethiopia’s Somali region and violations of the laws of war in Mogadishu and other parts of Somalia.
· Urge the Ethiopian government to immediately facilitate full unimpeded access of international humanitarian organizations to civilians in need of assistance in Somali region.
· Ensure that the provisions of the “Leahy Law” are fully adhered to, by verifying that no U.S. military assistance to Ethiopia is benefiting military units that violate human rights with impunity, in particular those units operating in the Ogaden and in Somalia.
· Publicly call for Ethiopia to support independent investigations into and accountability for ongoing human rights abuses committed by the Ethiopian military in Somali region and Mogadishu, as well as past abuses in Gambella.
· Cease cooperating with the Ethiopian government in secret renditions of people fleeing the conflict in Somalia and call on the Ethiopian government to acknowledge the real number of detainees and permit access to these individuals by independent international monitors. No U.S. message about human rights abuses in Ethiopia will be taken seriously so long as the Administration is also asking Ethiopia to cooperate in the illegal detention and abusive interrogation of terrorism suspects.
· The United States should also take the lead in asking the Security Council for a permanent mechanism at the Security Council to gather information and ensure accountability for sexual violence. At the moment, the Security Council, for example, systematically gathers information about children in armed conflict, but not about sexual violence committed against children, as well as against adult women.