Based on dozens of eyewitness accounts gathered by Human Rights Watch in a six-week research mission to Kenya and Somalia in April and May 2007, plus subsequent interviews and research in June and July, this [Human Rights Watch] report documents the illegal means and methods of warfare used by all of the warring parties and the resulting catastrophic toll on civilians in Mogadishu.

This AfricaFocus Bulletin includes a press release and summary of the new report from Human Right Watch, Shell-Shocked: Civilians under Siege in Mogadishu. Released just before the renewal of the United Nations mandate for an African Union force in Somalia, the report outlines the massive destruction in Mogadishu resulting from the Ethiopian invasion and the subsequent urban warfare.

According to United Nations estimates, some 400,000 people have fled the city in the past four months, and Doctors without Borders reports that the number of doctors in the city's hospitals as fallen from 53 to 13.

Nevertheless, the United Nations took no new action, despite the ineffectiveness of the African Union force consisting of 1,700 Ugandan troops. The force is far short of its planned 8,000 strength and the terms of its mandate allying it with the unpopular Ethiopian-backed Transitional Federal Government have been sharply questioned by critics.

For earlier AfricaFocus Bulletins on Somalia, links to news, Human Rights Watch reports, and other background information, visit http://www.africafocus.org/country/somalia.php

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Shell-Shocked: Civilians Under Siege in Mogadishu

Human Rights Watch

http://www.hrw.org

August 13, 2007

For a full copy of the report, please visit:

http://hrw.org/reports/2007/somalia0807

Ethiopian, Somali and insurgent forces are all responsible for rampant violations of the laws of war in Mogadishu, causing massive suffering for the civilian population, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Human Rights Watch urged the UN Security Council during its current deliberations on Somalia to include a strong civilian protection mandate in any peacekeeping mission.

The 113-page report, "Shell-Shocked: Civilians Under Siege in Mogadishu," is the first independent, on-the-ground investigation of the fighting that wracked Mogadishu in March and April 2007, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of civilians and the displacement of 400,000 people. "The warring parties have all shown criminal disregard for the well-being of the civilian population of Mogadishu," said Ken Roth, executive director for Human Rights Watch. "The UN Security Council's indifference to this crisis has only added to the tragedy."

Human Rights Watch documented numerous war crimes among many other violations of the laws of war by all parties to the armed conflict in Mogadishu.

Violations by the insurgency, a loose coalition of Somali armed groups, include:

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.