UN faces calls for action in Somalia

The Union of Islamic Courts took control of much of central and southern Somalia last year, sending shock waves through the Horn of Africa and governments further afield.

Although they brought a degree of stability to a country bereft of central government for 15 years, their hard-line sharia law raised fears that Somalia would become a haven for Islamic terrorists. They were forced out after six months by Ethiopian warplanes and artillery – with tacit US backing – sent to prop up the feeble interim government.

The result is largely business as usual for Somalia's war-weary population. The capital has been the scene of repeated fighting as insurgents try to topple the Transitional Federal Government. During the most intense clashes between February and May, more than 400,000 civilians fled Mogadishu.

A report published earlier this week by Human Rights Watch casts fresh light on that fighting and underlines the need for a progress towards peace.

The study concluded that ferocious battles in the capital constituted war crimes by all sides. The New York-based group said Ethiopia's army had indiscriminately bombarded highly populated areas, targeted and looted hospitals, and summarily executed civilians.

The group blamed the transitional Somali government for mistreating detainees and failing to warn civilians of impending military strikes, while the insurgents were guilty of using heavily populated areas as bases.

"None of the parties has taken – as international law requires – all feasible precautions to spare the civilian population from the attacks," says the analysis. The Ethiopian and Somali governments deny any abuses. Ethiopia's government said the report was propaganda for Islamist radicals and distorted Ethiopia's beneficial role in supporting the Somalian government.

"The UN Security Council's indifference to this crisis has only added to the tragedy," said Ken Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. He called on the UN to use its power to force Ethiopia and Somalia to end the abuses.

Drought may amplify Somali crisis

At the same time, the failure of this year's seasonal rains, normally from April to June, have increased to 1.5 million the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance, according to an assessment by the Food Security Analysis Unit, an independent group backed the UN, European Commission, and the US.

"Malnutrition is going to increase in parts of southern Somalia because of the failed harvest and at the same time we have to reach the people who have been displaced from Mogadishu," says Peter Smerdon, spokesman for the UN's World Food Programme in Nairobi. "There's got to be real security on the ground for distributions to take place in Mogadishu, where we last held a distribution on June 25."

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