"Business" at It's Worst: War Crimes in Somalia

Human Rights Watch has recently published "So Much to Fear", a report on war crimes and abuses of power in Somalia by Ethiopia and Eritrea in the Ethiopian invasion on Somalia. Some of the things I've read in a summary of this report are just horrific--slaughter, gang rape, torture. The United States and the European Union (as well as the European Commission) have been indicated as well for supporting the Ethiopian military. The report summary said the following about the United States' and EU's involvement specifically.

United States policy towards Somalia largely revolves around fears of international terrorist networks using the country as a base. The United States directly backed Ethiopia's intervention in Somalia and has provided strong political backing to the TFG. But US officials have refused to meaningfully confront or even publicly acknowledge the extent of Ethiopian military and TFG abuses in the country. The US approach is not only failing to address the rights and suffering of millions of Somalis but is counterproductive in its own terms, breeding the very extremism that it is supposed to defeat.

The European Union and key European governments have also failed to address the human rights dimensions of the crisis, with many officials hoping that somehow unfettered support to abusive TFG forces will improve stability.

The HRW report is available on-line (just click the link above). Somalian refugee stories that have been shared with the Human Rights Watch can be read here. I have also posted an article below found on Yahoo! News on the subject. I'll be looking more into this matter, so more to come later.

US turned blind eye to Somalia abuses: rights group

Sun Feb 1, 11:12 am ET

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – The United States has turned a blind eye to abuses by its allies in Somalia and worsened the situation there by reducing a complex conflict to a front in its "war on terror," a leading human rights group said.

U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said in a letter to African Union Commission chairman Jean Ping that the policies of many governments had been destructive in Somalia.

"U.S. policy on Somalia has been particularly unhelpful, treating Somalia's complex realities as a theater in the 'war on terror' while turning a blind eye to rampant abuses by the Ethiopian and transitional government forces," HRW said in the letter that was handed to reporters at an AU summit on Sunday.

The letter was sent to Ping late last month.

U.S. ally Ethiopia sent its army into Somalia to topple an Islamist administration in Mogadishu and rescue the Western-backed transitional government at the end of 2006.

At least 10,000 civilians were killed in an ensuing Iraq-style insurgency that also created more than a million refugees and fomented piracy in shipping lanes off the coast.

The Ethiopians withdrew last month and Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, a moderate Islamist who led the sharia courts government overthrown by them, was elected on Saturday as Somali president, raising hopes that a way can be found out of the conflict that has torn Somalia for 18 years.

Ahmed has made positive noises toward the new U.S. administration of President Barack Obama, saying Washington's policy toward Somalia was positive and honest.

"America has become a force which supports peace," he told an Egyptian newspaper in an interview published on Sunday.

Human Rights Watch said all sides in the conflict over the last two years had committed war crimes and human rights abuses.

It accused Europe of sending aid to Somali police without insisting on accountability for serious crimes and said Eritrea had provided arms to fighters in Somalia as part of a proxy war against Ethiopia.

HRW called on the AU, whose leaders are meeting until Tuesday in the Ethiopian capital, to ask the U.N. Security Council to establish a commission of inquiry into rights abuses in Somalia.

(editing by Elizabeth Piper)

What Can Be Said to Fools?

The cease-fire is over. The Israeli military has begun air strikes against Gaza again due to militant rocket fire near the border into southern Israel. What fools! Apparently the 100:1 Palestinian to Israeli dead ratio is not enough for these small militant groups. According to the article posted below, Hamas has not taken responsibility for the rocket fire. Instead, it is attributed to other minority militant groups inside Gaza. If Hamas is wise, it will do all it can to quiet these small groups so the Gazan residents have time to heal and recover from the horrific invasion they endured less than a month ago. Any action towards Israel that would bring on more bloodshed or destruction at this point would be suicide for Gaza altogether.

Israel strikes Gaza after militant rocket fire

By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer – Sun Feb 1, 7:41 pm ET

JERUSALEM – Israel threatened "harsh and disproportionate" retaliation after Gaza militants fired at least 10 rockets and mortar shells across the border Sunday and warplanes later bombed the area where Hamas smuggles in weapons from Egypt through tunnels.

The flare-up raised the risk of growing violence in the days leading up to Israel's parliamentary elections on Feb. 10.

Since an unwritten truce ended Israel's offensive in Gaza two weeks ago, rocket and mortar fire from the Palestinian territory ruled by Hamas has increased steadily. Israeli retaliation, including brief ground incursions and bombings of rocket launchers and smuggling tunnels, is also intensifying.

"If there is shooting at residents of the south, there will be an Israeli response that will be harsh and disproportionate by its nature," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told his Cabinet.

Israel launched its three-week offensive with the aim of ending years of Hamas rocket fire at southern Israel. It left nearly 1,300 Palestinians dead, more than half of them civilians, according to Gaza officials. Thirteen Israelis were killed, including three civilians.

A late afternoon mortar barrage on the southern Israeli village of Nahal Oz, next to the Gaza border fence, wounded two soldiers and a civilian, the military and rescue services said. Earlier, a rocket landed near a kindergarten, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

Late Sunday, Palestinians reported huge explosions as Israeli warplanes dropped bombs on the Egypt-Gaza border area, where Hamas operates tunnels to smuggle in weapons, food and other goods, Palestinians said.

Israeli aircraft first flew over the area in southern Gaza setting off sonic booms. Residents said hundreds of people who work in the tunnels fled, then waited in the streets of the border city, Rafah, for the attacks to end so they could return.

The Israeli military said warplanes attacked six tunnels and also an unspecified Hamas post in northern Gaza. No casualties were reported from any of the bombings.

Hamas spokesman Taher Nunu said Olmert's threat was an attempt by Israel to "find false pretexts to increase its aggression against the people" of Gaza.

Hamas has not taken responsibility for the new attacks, which have been claimed by smaller militant groups. But Israel says it holds Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since seizing power in June 2007, responsible for all attacks coming from there.

Israeli defense officials said they had not yet formulated a response to the strikes, but said a return to the offensive — in which Israeli tanks and infantry units penetrated deep into Gaza — was unlikely. Instead, they said Israel would consider airstrikes, including attempts to kill Hamas leaders. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing classified security matters.

Olmert is in the last weeks of his term. He resigned in September over a string of corruption investigations. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, his Kadima Party's chosen successor, failed to put together an alternative government, forcing the upcoming election.

Two candidates for premier — Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Livni — are in the government, competing for credit for last month's bruising Gaza offensive. The third, front-runner Benjamin Netanyahu of the hawkish Likud Party, is sniping from the side.

All three candidates to replace Olmert leveled their own threats against Hamas.

Livni told the Cabinet meeting that Israel hammered Gaza for three weeks to persuade Palestinian militants to stop their daily rocket barrages.

"At a certain point, we stopped to see if they had got the very clear message that Israel will not accept fire at its civilians," she said, according to participants who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was closed.

With the resumption of the rocket attacks, she said, "the response must be harsh and immediate."

Barak told the Cabinet that Israel would respond, but called for an end to "running off at the mouth" about the options, "even in an election season," his office said in a statement.

Netanyahu told reporters that Israel must be tough in its response, and then work for "removal of the Hamas regime in Gaza, and removal of the threat of rockets (falling) on the suburbs of Tel Aviv."

Pre-election polls show Netanyahu with a lead over Livni, and Barak trailing far behind.

Both Israel and Hamas have been talking to Egyptian mediators about a long-term truce. Israel wants an end to arms smuggling into Gaza from Egypt. Hamas wants Israel and Egypt to reopen Gaza's borders, which have been virtually sealed since Hamas seized power.

Responding to Israel's concerns, U.S. Army engineers arrived at the Gaza-Egypt frontier on Sunday to set up ground-penetrating radar to detect smuggling tunnels, an Egyptian security official said.

Inside the Rafah terminal — the gateway between Egypt and Gaza — four army trucks loaded with wooden crates and drills could be seen accompanied by four U.S. Army engineers. The Egyptian officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the subject's sensitivity.

In Cairo, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told reporters he will not hold reconciliation talks with Hamas unless it accepts his authority. The two sides have been divided ever since Hamas seized Gaza from Abbas' Fatah forces, which now rule the West Bank.

Reconciliation between the factions could make it easier to reach a more lasting solution to the Gaza-Israel conflict.

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From Yahoo! News

Interesting Cartoon by Khalil Bendib

From a Gazan Journalist's Perspect...

This evening I read a powerful story reported on by Sameh Habeeb, a journalist from Gaza. It is shocking and heartbreaking to see how such innocents have suffered in this ill-matched war between Israel and Hamas in which over 1200 Palestinians were killed (over half of which were innocents) and nearly 5000 wounded.
I have posted Habeeb's article below, but you can also go to his blog, Gaza Today, if you want to read more of his posts and get more of his insider view of the war and "clean up" process in Gaza. -Dani

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

A child full of light will never see again

As a Gazan journalist who is devastated by the holocaust the Israel army is perpetrating against us, I find myself at loss. The list of horrendous crimes committed by the Israeli army against Palestinians is endless and the crimes are countless.

Should I write about the 45 evacuees who were massacred in their refuge at the United Nations-administered al-Fakhoura school? Should I write about the most horrifying crime when Red Cross personnel found four starving children who had spent four days with the dead bodies of their mothers and other relatives in the ruins of a house in the al-Zeitoun neighborhood?

Should I talk about the mass killing of the al-Dayaa family when 15 family members were killed when a "smart" bomb gently hit their five-story building?

What about the sadistic crime when the father of the al-Samuni family was executed before his wife and children? Or the carnage committed against the extended al-Samuni family when 29 members of the clan were concentrated in one house which was bombed and collapsed on top of them, killing them all?

These and so many other crimes have already been documented by Amnesty International and other human rights institutions. Many more are still untold stories. I can tell one story with my own words and my own camera -- that of eight-year-old Louay Sobeh. Little Louay could not know what this war had in store for him or his family.

About a week ago Louay and his family fled their house in Beit Lahiya town in northern Gaza. They were under heavy Israeli artillery fire as the Israeli army invaded the area at the outset of Israeli ground military operation. Sorrowfully, Louay started to narrate what he witnessed:

"Israeli shells started to rain down beside my house in northern Gaza. Rockets started to get closer to my house and many people were killed. My house got some shrapnel and part of rockets. Then, my grandmother and my family fled to Jabaliya where we sheltered in one of the [Untied Nations] schools. We stayed for three days where it was very very cold. When we fled our house in the night we didn't bring any luggage or clothes or food. My father, brother and other family members decided to go back to our house in the north to bring some clothes and food. We went early in the morning by car then all of a sudden people beside our car started to run left and right. I heard explosions and I felt as if I were flying in the sky. And I found myself in the hospital."

The Israeli bombing of Louay's father's car killed one of his brothers and injured others. The shocking fact is that Louay still doesn't know is that he lost his eyesight completely. He will never be able to see the light again! His grandmother was beside him trying to make him feel better. He still doesn't know that his brother was killed.

Before I left his room Louay told me, "I hope you visit me again and you will go with me to take footage and photos of the place where the car was hit. I will also make a scene for you about how I flew. But I need you to help me recover quickly so I can go to school again and play with some of my friends. I don't know if they are alive or not."

I was shocked by his talent and affected by his words. It's very brutal when a child like Louay becomes a victim for no reason. There must be a way for Louay and all the children of Palestine to have peace and rest, instead of the fire and hell they have witnessed.

Louay is one of the lucky ones: he is expected to be taken to Saudi Arabia to receive medical treatment sponsored by the Saudi king. For too many children such aid is too late and it still won't bring the light back to Louay's eyes.

Sameh A. Habeeb is a photojournalist, humanitarian and peace
activist based in Gaza, Palestine. He writes for several news websites on a freelance basis.

The Flimsy Beginnings of a Cease Fire...

Gazans dig bodies from rubble as cease-fire begins

By IBRAHIM BARZAK and ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU, Associated Press Writers Ibrahim Barzak And Alfred De Montesquiou, Associated Press Writers – Sun Jan 18, 3:19 pm ET

JEBALIYA REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip – For Palestinians searching the rubble of this devastated refugee camp, the mounds of concrete and metal hid all they desperately wanted and needed: the bodies of dead relatives, belongings and — bitterly — scraps of bombs now valuable enough to sell as recycled aluminum.

Destruction was everywhere on Sunday, in churned up farmland, dangling electricity poles, charred bodies of cars abandoned on pulverized roads, and broken pipes overflowing with sewage. The stench of rotting corpses, both human and animal, hung in the air.

For three weeks, Israeli airstrikes targeted Hamas militants who have been firing missiles at Israel for the last eight years, smashing much of Gaza's already shabby infrastructure and turning neighborhoods into battle zones.

The fragile cease-fire and first troops withdrawals on Sunday allowed families and medics to intensify the search for bodies — with more than 100 dead recovered Sunday, according to Palestinian health officials. The number of Palestinian dead now stood at more than 1,250, half of those civilians. Thirteen Israelis were killed in the fighting.

For two weeks, ground combat kept residents of Jebaliya like Zayed Hadar from their homes. On Sunday, Hadar searched through his family home with most of his 10 children. The three-story building had been flattened.

"We've pulled out my nephew, but I don't know how many are still under there," Hadar said, as several Israeli tanks rolled in the distance.

A mosque nearby lay entirely flattened save for a lone minaret that loomed over the dusty concrete.

In the same area, Palestinian boys, both cynically and desperately, mined for shards of aluminum from the missiles that had killed so many. "This big bit can bring back 1 shekel" or 25 cents, said Youssouf Dardoum, holding out a large chunk of twisted missile case.

Meanwhile, neighbors frantically dug through mounds of dirt to free a bleating sheep, trapped among duck carcasses.

Hamas policemen also emerged for the first time since fighting began in their dark blue uniforms, directing traffic. Others prevented looting, at one point firing volleys into their air as Jebaliya residents tried to lynch a youth accused of stealing belongings in a ruined house that wasn't his.

In the northwest Gaza Strip farming community of Atatra, where ground fighting raged between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants, medics wearing white face masks to block the stench pulled five bodies from a smashed house, including a woman in a long blue robe, then the leg of a child.

"We don't know if they are human or animal, it's a shame! By God, we are human!" said a medic who gave his name only as Ahmad, pushing down the cloth covering his face. "We need specialized emergency teams, we are digging with our hands."

Khadija Radi, 83, watched as her great-grandchildren to picked through the remains of her damaged home. She sat on a pile of concrete, holding prayer beads, her walking stick beside her.

"These are the only things left from my belongings," she said, pointing to a pillow and a slipper. Her daughter Sadia salvaged dusty mattresses and loaded them onto a donkey cart.

Like many other residents from damaged zones, Sadia Radi said her extended family of 27 would sleep at a relative's home until they could find money to repair their own. Britain on Sunday announced it was tripling its aid to Gaza, with an additional 20 million pounds, or about $29 million, going toward rebuilding damaged homes and helping the injured.

The cease-fire remained shaky as drones buzzed overhead Sunday. Hamas militants fired 16 rockets before their Gaza leaders announced their own cease-fire. Plumes of smoke from an Israeli missile also rose over Gaza City's outskirts in the afternoon, and Israeli snipers blocked access through the Strip's main north-south road.

Around 50,000 Gazans sought refuge in U.N. compounds and schools converted into shelters throughout Israel's military operation. It is not clear how many of them remain homeless.

In an initial indication of damage, Gaza municipal officials said a first count showed some 20,000 residential and government buildings were severely damaged and another 4,000 destroyed. Some 50 of the U.N.'s 220 schools, clinics and warehouses were battered in shelling and crossfire.

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Omar Sinan reported from Rafah, Egypt, Ben Hubbard reported from Sderot, Israel, and Diaa Hadid and Ian Deitch from Jerusalem.