UN expert pans Somali violence

2008-04-23 11:27

Geneva - The United Nations independent human rights expert for Somalia on Wednesday denounced the killing of civilians amid a fresh escalation of fighting in the war-stricken east African country.

Ghanim Alnajjar, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Somalia, called for an immediate ceasefire between Ethiopian-backed government troops and Islamist insurgents.

"The use of heavy weaponry in areas, where civilians are concentrated left reportedly 81 civilians dead and more than 100 wounded," he said.

Alnajjar expressed particular concern at the reported killing of numerous clerics at the Alhidaya compound mosque in the capital Mogadishu.

Worst humanitarian catastrophe

The bodies of nine Islamic clerics were found in and around the mosque on Monday, with residents saying they had been shot by Ethiopian forces during weekend clashes with Islamist fighters.

He said: "Killings have to be investigated expeditiously and impartially, and any lasting peace in Somalia must be based on justice, truth and accountability."

The United Nations warned on Tuesday that Somalia risked plunging into its worst humanitarian catastrophe since the early 1990s as the twin threats of war and drought put millions of lives in danger.

Two and a half million people were in urgent need of assistance amid renewed heavy fighting in Mogadishu and the worst drought for a decade, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

Somalia had been rocked by seemingly endless fighting since the 1991 ouster of president Mohamed Siad Barre.

- AFP