Continuing Violence in Somalia

By Elizabeth Costner
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Africa

MOGADISHU, Somalia – The streets of Mogadishu are experiencing the worst violence in months, in the second day of protests against government-allied Ethiopian troops.  Several hundred Somalis have taken to the streets, many of them women and children, shouting anti-Ethiopian slogans, erecting burning barricades, and tossing rocks. Several people have been killed in gun battles.

The latest protests began after Ethiopia moved reinforcements and a convoy of 20 tanks and armored cars into the city on Friday. One of the vehicles struck a landmine and exploded.  On Saturday Ethiopian troops fanned out across the city, causing the recent protests by civilians.  BBC correspondents say the civilians are angry with the Ethiopian forces because of the use of artillery in the fighting, which has caused civilian casualties.

Mogadishu has faced growing violence since government troops and Ethiopian allies chased out the Council of Islamic Courts in December.   The Islamic group had controlled much of southern Somalia for six months, and remnants have vowed to fight an Iraq-style insurgency.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International has repeatedly condemned the recurrent killing of journalists and harassment of media within the country.  On 19 October the acting chairman of Radio Shadelle, Bahsir Nur Gedi, was murdered in his home.  Gedi’s killing was the latest in a recent surge of attacks against the media, and brings the number of journalists killed since August of last year to nine.  Due to the rising violence, few international journalists are willing to travel to Mogadishu.

The rising insecurity in Somalia is not limited to journalists, and has effected employees of international humanitarian organizations such as the World Food Programme.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991 when rival warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and subsequently turned on each other.  The UN states that 400,000 people have fled the violence in Mogadishu in the past four months.

For more information, please see:

International Herald Tribune (AP) – Somali protestors burn tires, throw rocks to demand departure of Ethiopian troops – 27 October 2007

BBC News – Mogadishu hit by fresh fighting – 28 October 2007

AllAfrica.com – Somalia: Country More Dangerous Than Ever for Journalists – 28 October 2007

Amnesty International – Amnesty International Calls for Probe in Killings of Somali Journalists – 26 October 2007

For more information on Somalia, please see the following Impunity Watch reports: Gunned Down Journalist; WFP Officer Released in Somalia; Piracy and Kidnapping Deepens Food Crisis; Bombing Kills Two During Quest for New Government; The ‘Forgotten’ Somalia

Author: Impunity Watch Archive