Violence in Mogadishu Forces Residents to Flee and Hospital to Close

October 14, 2011

By Carolyn Abdenour
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

MOGADISHU, Somalia – On 11 October, government forces and the militant Islamist group al-Shabab engaged in heavy fighting in the Hamar-weyne district of Mogadishu. This violence forced a hospital to close and residents to flee the country’s capital.

Residents of Somalia flee the Mogadishu. (Photo Courtesy of the San Francisco Chronicle)

The residents feared renewed warfare in northern Mogadishu, where Islamist militants are taking position. They packed up their household goods and left on donkey-powered carts with their children.

On Wednesday, 12 October, the residents reported Al-Shabab fighters were digging new trenches. These new trenches coupled with the movement of 9,000 African Union (“AU”) forces into these neighborhoods signify fighting may break out soon.

At least twenty civilians and one African Union soldier died during fighting that ignited over the weekend and ended on Monday, 10 October. Director of Mogadishu’s ambulance service said that because the ambulances could not reach people, several people bled to death.

The day the violence ended, Dr. Ahmed Mohammed reported one staff member died during a shelling of the maternity ward operated by SOS children. The violence also forced patients and staff to flee the hospital. Forty women, including women who just gave birth by caesarean section, and children who were treated for severe malnutrition fled the hospital. Dr. Mohammed fears some of the children may have died because they could not receive treatment. He added that the hospital closed for the first time in twenty-five years on Monday.

Dr. Mohammed commented, “I am pleading and I am begging both parties . . . to leave the place and allow people to come back and get the assistance from the hospital.”

On Monday, the AU forces also drove al-Shabab militants from the north of Mogadishu, their last stronghold. AU force spokesperson Lt. Col. Paddy Ankunda stated, “It has been a big achievement to remove [al-Shabab] from the city, and put an end to the fighting that disrupted so many lives.”

Last week, al-Shabab killed over eighty people during a bomb attack in Mogadishu. Since August when al-Shabab said it would withdraw from Mogadishu after the AU forces sustained an offense, it increased its guerrilla tactics to fight Somalia’s weak government.

Maj. Gen. Fred Mugisha, the AU force commander, reported some al-Shabab militants still pose a threat in northern Mogadishu. He said al-Shabab “will be judged harshly for the lives they take and the atrocities they commit. We need the support of all peace-loving Somalis to help us restore peace and stability to the city.”

For further information, please see:

San Francisco Chronicle – Packing Up Home: Mogadishu Residents Flee Warfare – 12 Oct 2011

Mareeg – Government Soldiers Exchange Fires in the Somali Capital, Mogadishu – 12 Oct 2011

BBC – Shelling shuts Mogadishu Hospital – 11 Oct 2011

eTaiwan News – Somalia: 8 Die in Battle Between Gov’t, Militants – 11 Oct 2011

Egypt Sends Dual-Edged Message in Response to Crackdown on Coptic Christians

October 14, 2011

By Zach Waksman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt – After security forces fired on Sunday’s peaceful march by Coptic Christians, killing at least 25 people and injuring at least 300 more, Egypt responded to allegations of running protesters over with armored vehicles and the use of live ammunition by saying that their actions were justified. Wednesday, the ruling military council that is serving as the country’s interim government, suggested that the security forces were acting in defense from violent demonstrators. At the same time, Egypt faces identical opposition.

During Wednesday’s press conference, two Egyptian generals claimed that the soldiers were unarmed and shocked by what they saw. According to these leaders, a force of 300, armed with only riot gear, encountered a cadre of 6,000 Coptic dissenters who were armed with weapons, including sticks, stones, swords, and Molotov cocktails.

“The armed forces would never and have never opened fire on the people,” General Mahmoud Hegazy, a member of the ruling military council, told the assembled media.

Hegazy was also shown footage of military vehicles at the scene. In response, the generals asked for sympathy, saying that soldiers were trying to escape the area, not run over protesters. The New York Times believed that their tone of voice was meant to soften allegations of the military attempting to assert greater power.

“I want you all to imagine, as parents would, the soldier in his vehicle now who sees the scene and wants to run for his life,” said General Adel Emara. “He sees a car burning, and if people jump out, the crowd beats him up severely, so this is not safe either. What can he do, other than try to drive his car out of this hell to safety? He wanted to get away with his car; he must’ve been traumatized.”

Emara’s efforts to deny the claim of vehicles being used to run over dissidents has already been proven false. Forensic analysis of the dead indicated that they were run down by vehicles.

Exactly what started the violence is unclear. The military council accused Christian figures and notable public figures of inciting the riot. Emara said that only a minority of the Coptic Christians present were peaceful, while the rest attacked the soldiers.

But Thursday, a lawsuit was filed against Minister of Information Osama Heikal and Rasha Magdy Rasekh a television presenter for the state-run media, accusing them of inciting violence against the peaceful Coptic rally. According to the complaint, Rasekh, whose job was under Heikal’s jurisdiction, made a report of Christians attacking the armed forces that “was, in fact, the intentional broadcast of false news, information and rumors, which disturbed public security, cast terror among the public, and harmed the public interest.”

While controversy over the incident in Maspero continues to fester, the Egyptian government also promised to investigate disputes over church-building. In response to the massacre and Coptic claims that the government has not paid sufficient attention to them, Haikal announced Thursday that the Justice Ministry will be forming a review committee. Its mission will be “to review all the incidents that occurred in the past few months concerning disputes over churches … to identify those responsible and take appropriate action.”

The military council emphasized that it does not want sectarian violence to continue. The generals used Wednesday’s press conference to call for Egypt’s disparate religious groups to come together as one.

“The Egyptians include everyone in Egypt, whatever their religion, race or color. The Copts are part of the fabric of Egyptian society, which means they have rights and duties,” Hegazy said. “The strength of the Egyptian people comes from its unity. The Egyptian Armed Forces belong to the people, as they are part of the same fabric.”

The shooting in Maspero was Egypt’s worst incident of this kind since the fall of former President Hosni Mubarak in February.

For more information, please see:

Egyptian Gazette — “Copts Are Part and Parcel of Egypt” — 14 October 2011

Al Jazeera — Egypt’s Army Accuses Christians of Incitement — 13 October 2011

Al-Masry Al-Youm — Information Minister Alleged to Have Incited Killing of Protesters — 13 October 2011

Daily News Egypt — Egypt to Review Church Permit Disputes after Violence — 13 October 2011

New York Times — Egypt Promises to Address Coptic Christians’ Concerns –13 October 2011

BBC — Egypt’s Army Defends Tactics in Coptic Rally Crackdown — 12 October 2011

New York Times — Egyptian Generals Plead for Understanding after Death of Coptic Protesters — 12 October 2011

Rallies Supporting Jailed Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Shut Down

October 13, 2011

By Terance Walsh
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BARANAVICHY, Belarus — Rallies planned for October 16 in Baranavichy, Belarus in support of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Yymoshenko have been quashed by local authorities.

Ryhor Hryk, member of the United Civic Party, received a letter from the local Baranavichy government saying that “the public gathering in Belarus to support…Tymoshenko could be construed by the Ukrainian government as interference in Ukraine’s internal affairs, and therefore cannot be held.” The city used the Mass Events Law to prohibit the demonstration.

Hryk blasted the decision of the Baranavichy authorities. He called the ban “absurd, because I am not calling on anyone to overthrow the legally elected government of Ukraine. I just want to express moral support for Yulia Tymoshenko.” Article 35 of the Belarusian constitution protects the right of Belarusian citizens to gather, march, and assemble. Hryk claims that these rights of Tymoshenko’s supporters are being trampled. He plans to file an appeal to the Baranavichy City Prosecutor’s Office. Hryk had visited Ukraine this year, attended Tymoshenko’s trial, and participated in demonstrations in Kiev.

This is not the first time Hryk has been banned from holding a public demonstration. In October 2009 he was arrested for protesting tax hikes on small businesses in Baranavichy.

Tymoshenko was tried for abuse of power after she brokered a 2009 gas deal with Russia that resulted in a $200 million loss in Ukraine’s budget. Amnesty International has decried the conviction as “politically motivated.”

Tymoshenko plans to appeal her conviction and seven-year prison sentence as Amnesty International calls for her release. Tymoshenko was openly defiant throughout the proceedings and called the conviction a “political lynching.”

The sentence drew harsh criticism form the United States and the European Union. Officials of the US and the EU have warned that the conviction will likely worsen relations with Ukraine.

In the meantime Tymoshenko and her family are trying to alleviate her prison sentence. The international community has put pressure on Ukraine to refrain from imposing a punishment that is driven by politics. Tuesday’s sentence has placed in jeopardy Ukrane’s free trade agreements and the prospect of joining the EU. The west has set a sort of deadline for October 20 to reform the sentence. The Ukranian Parliament is set to convene on October 18 to discuss the decriminalization of the offense for which Tymoshenko is charged.

“All the signals indicate that before the 20th something should happen,” Tymoshenko’s daughter, Yevhenia Carr, said, “The result of the trial is already a big mistake, a big kind of technical error. It’s just the story of one person’s revenge.”

Tymoshenko has persuaded women in prison to start exercising and stop smoking. She has also immersed herself in the Bible as a way to focus her attention on anything but politics. Despite all the turmoil Carr believes her mother will one day be president of Ukraine.

For more information please see:

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty — Amnesty International Repeats Call For Tymoshenko Release — 13 October 2011

NY Times — Tymoshenko To Be Freed Soon, Daughter Says — 12 October 2011

Naviny — Authorities in Baranavichy Ban Opposition Activists From Demonstrating In Support Of Ukraine’s Ex-PM Tymoshenko — 11 October 2011

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty — Belarusian Activists Banned From Holding Rally For Tymoshenko — 11 October 2011

Charter ’97 — Baranavichy Businessmen Cracked Down For Protest Rallies — 2 October 2009

Message on News Reporting Disruption

October 13, 2011

Dear Impunity Watch reader,

As one of our many avid readers, you likely noticed that articles published between October 5th and 12th disappeared from the Impunity Watch website. I want to apologize for the disruption in our news service, ensure you that we will have all of the previously published articles re-published shortly, and inform you that service has been restored to normal. To avoid additional confusion regarding re-published articles, please note that we will include the original publication date in each re-published article.

The disruption occurred during the migration of the Impunity Watch website over to a new server. Although the brief disruption in service in regrettable, the change in server will allow our site to function more efficiently in the future because the new operators of the server will be able to provide more timely updates to our key applications.

Sorry again for the disruption in service and thank you for your patience and understanding. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or concerns regarding this or any other matters.

Thank you for your continued support in the fight against impunity.

Your truly,

Warren Popp
Editor-in-Chief
wrpopp@syr.edu

Phillipine Army Falsely Labeling Children as Rebels

October 12, 2011

By: Jessica Ties
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

MANILA, Philippines –The Philippine army is facing allegations that they have been falsely claiming that children taken into custody are rebel “child warriors” of the rebel New People’s Army.

The Philippine army has been accused of detaining children and falsely declaring them to the public as rebel "child warriors" (Photo Courtesy of Now Public).

According to Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, “[t]he army is concocting stories of rebel child soldiers that are putting children at risk for propaganda purposes.”

Since June 2010, according to Human Rights Watch, there have been at least six cases involving twelve children in which the children were not only taken into custody but also publicly exposed to the media as captured rebel combatants. This public exposure is not only a violation of Philippine law, but is also a violation of international law which prohibits the exposure of captured combatants to the public and the media.

In one case, three young boys were detained by soldiers while doing chores and then publicly declared to be rebel child soldiers. One of the children illustrated his experience by stating, “[t]he soldiers shook me…they were trying to force me to admit we had planted a bomb…they tied my hands together…I was afraid.”

One of the other boys stated that the soldiers pushed him to the ground and told him that they would kill his father if he did not give them the names of other rebels.

In some cases, the children were detained by the army for days or weeks before being surrendered to the Department of Social Welfare and Development as required by Philippine law.

In July, a fourteen year old boy and his younger sister were taken into custody while on vacation in Northern Samar. The children were then publicly declared rebels and the younger child was kept in the army camp for three weeks. While detained, she was forced to do laundry and other chores before being released to the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

The social welfare and development officer found no evidence to support claims that the children were recruited by the rebel and reported that this conclusion can be supported by school records.

Often, children and their families have reported experiencing continued harassment and intimidation by the Philippine army following their release. One mother reported that the continued harassment forced her to relocate her children after members of the army came to her home and asked her to take her children to the military camp to sign “unspecified papers.”

The armed forces public affairs office chief, Col. Arnulfo Burgos, has combated the allegations by stating that falsifying information has never been accepted or tolerated and if “…soldiers are ground to be falsifying documents or fabricating evidences, we will not hesitate to punish them.”

Despite the assurance of Burgos, Elaine Pearson has warned that “[t]he use of child soldiers in the Philippines is a matter of grave concern that the government should be taking seriously.”

The battle between the government and the rebels has been ongoing since the Communist Party of the Philippines began a campaign to seize power in 1969. The conflict has claimed the lives of countless civilians who were caught in the crossfire or fell victim to atrocities.

For more information, please see:

ABS-CBN News – AFP Denies Lying About NPA ‘Child Warriors’ – 12 October 2011

Arab News – Philippine Army Falsely Tags Children as Rebels: HRW – 12 October 2011

Philippine Daily Inquirer – Rights Group Accuses Army of Fabricating Stories on Child Warriors – 12 October 2011

Human Rights Watch – Philippines: Army Falsely Tags Children as Rebels – 11 October 2011

Reuters – Philippine Rebels Must Stop Targeting Civilians – Rights Group – 5 October 2011