I am currently working on a subproject called FACE Human Rights for which I am creating a wiki-site, a webpage with the same concept as Wikipedia but based on knowledge management for human rights organizations. The concept of this site is for human rights specialists to change the content of the site by making additions according to their knowledge base. The site is still in its early stages but the basic interface and structure have been established and it is a live site ([ur]www.facehumanrights.org/wiki (http://www.facehumanrights.org/wiki>). I would like to invite you to take a preliminary look at the site and make any additions you would like. Thank you.

I thought the article entitled “Political Assassination As The Strategy Against Liberation Movements” () was excellent. As someone originally from Cameroon, I am moved by the article because it touches the very core of the historical grounding of the problems that contemporary Cameroon is faced with. Moumie and Um Nyobe were nationalists who wanted absolute independence (politically and economically) hence the ethnofacsist imperialist, France, conspired with the ruthless self-serving dictator, Ahidjo, to cut short the lives of the two visionaries.

The article by Afua Twum-Danso, accurately reflects what is happening to children all over Africa. Here in Kenya, the Children's Act 2000 captures the ideals set by CRC - including the four key pillars of non-discrimination, best interest of child, survival and development, and the right to be heard and listened to - and yet this has not brought an end to the suffering of the majority of our children. Every day in our city streets, we meet street children and the children's department does not take a proactive role to put them into safe protective custody. In our schools, we have evidence of school dropouts, yet our Education Ministry does nothing about it. In our homes, we employ child domestic workers and pay them peanuts. Some times we assault, abuse and subject them to physical, emotional and mental trauma. When it becomes too much, some well-meaning estate mamas will organize rescue missions for these children in the full glare of the mass media, but that is as far as public awareness of the matter goes. We cannot be sure that these perpetrators see the light of day in a courtroom. We 'the people’ have set OVCs adrift in a sea of adversity; we view them as ‘other peoples concerns’. These ‘other people’ could be their aged grandparents or impoverished relatives or civil society. These are people who operate on shoestring budgets, barely enough to sustain themselves, let alone additional mouths. In research done in Kenya, South Africa and Uganda by Human Rights Watch, it is observed that ‘governments are content to let the poor help the poor rather than assuming responsibility for children whose families had been decimated by HIV/Aids’.

An overflowing pit latrine empties its contents in a thick stream of worm-infested filth at the doorstep of Catherine Kithuku's home in Matopeni, a slum on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. Less than ten such latrines serve a population of two to three thousand people in this area.

What Kenyans believed all along is now official. The Kenya government has admitted sinking over Ksh600 million ($8.2 million) into commissions of inquiry over the past three years, commissions whose findings never see the light of the day.

The United Nations has pledged to provide about $300-million to fight poverty in Mozambique, which is slowly emerging from a brutal 16-year civil war. "The UN will mobilise nearly $300-million for the government's poverty reduction plan to help officials fight poverty in the next three years," UN chief representative in Mozambique, resident Ndolamb Ngokwey, said late on Monday (23 October 2006).

As presidential rivals Joseph Kabila and Jean-Pierre Bemba prepare for an electoral run-off in the Congo on Sunday (29 October 2006), the two international forces in charge of security during the polls, say they are ready to quell any violence that erupts. So far though, violent incidents between supporters of the two have been isolated.

A fresh crisis erupted in Plateau State, Sunday night (22 October 2006), prompting the imposition, yesterday (24 October 2006), of a curfew on Pankshin, the scene of the crisis. The Pankshin crisis was triggered off by a clash between the police and a group of youths that left two persons dead and the divisional police station razed.

The following examination brings to light the significant barriers to self-reliance for refugees in the settlement system in Uganda, the inconsistent conceptualisation of self-reliance embedded in the program and the flawed approach to refugee empowerment.

Over a decade ago, the western town of Poura reveled in a boom from a government-run industrial gold mine and became known as Petit Paris. The town quickly lost that reputation after the mine closed in 1999. Now it is known for something else: the hazards of small-scale mining. A cave-in killed at least three miners and injured several others in August.

The region's farmers allege that South African food retail chains setting up shop in their countries have a "step-brotherly attitude" towards local produce. "We are deeply concerned and very much disappointed with some of these South African food outlets, who are refusing to sell Zambian agricultural products," said Guy Robinson, president of the Zambia National Farmers Union.

About 45 African leaders have registered to attend a high level summit aimed at strengthening the China- Africa relations that is slated for Beijing early next month, according to the Chinese ambassador to Rwanda Qi Deen. "We believe that this summit which will involve high level exchange of ideas, will deepen our mutual cooperation with African countries, promote world peace and development," the ambassador said.

Congolese President Joseph Kabila, who faces Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba in a second-round presidential poll, has agreed to include one of the sons of late President Mobutu Sese Seko in his government should he win the 29 October contest.

It was after the invasion and when it became glaring that the Taylor era had transformed Liberia into a major crossroads for gun running and diamonds smuggling and exporter of violence to neighboring countries that the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) decided to impose punitive sanctions as deterrence or control measure.

Painting a grim picture of the security and human rights situation in the Central African Republic (CAR) and warning that it threatens regional stability, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today (23 October 2006) called for the mandate of the UN mission in the country to be extended for another year until the end of 2007.

'Scribbles in the Den' - (http://www.dibussi.com/) points to a Reporters Without Borders report on the 2006 “Worldwide Press Freedom Index”. The good news is that some African countries are moving up such as Togo. Since the new regime took office, the country has risen 29 places. Interestingly, Côte d’Ivoire (which is 99th) moved up 41 places - more an expression of how bad it was previously than how good it is now. The USA has also fallen by nine places since last year. Other African countries comparable with the West areBenin (23rd), Namibia (26th), Mauritius (32nd), Ghana (34th), Mali (35th), South Africa (44th) and Cape Verde (45th).

The bad news is that other African countries are ranking very low like Eritrea (166th), Gambia (149th), Somalia (144th), Democratic Republic of Congo (142nd), Zimbabwe (140th) and Equatorial Guinea (137th).

The report is based on a questionnaire on violations against journalists (such as murders, imprisonment, physical attacks and threats) and news media (censorship, confiscation of issues, searches and harassment).

'Two' - TWO (http://everchange.blogspot.com/2006/10/grameen-bank.html) comments on this year’s Nobel Peace Prize which was awarded to “Gameen Bank” founder “Muhammed Yunis, for his groundbreaking work providing microcredit to the rural poor in Bangladesh.” Everchange wonders if the prize has lost its meaning.

"Promoting economic development is not the same thing as creating a culture of peace. I see that the Norwegians are trying to ‘expand’ the definition of peace in order to honor different kinds of change agents, but for gods sake, do we really need new posers for an award that is so straight-forward? This is not the Nobel Poverty Eradication Prize. There are numerous individuals around the world braving imprisonment, torture and persecution in order to promote democracy and end armed conflict in their home countries. Give them the Nobel peace prize."

I have to agree. Whilst acknowledging the achievement of the Gameen Bank in fighting poverty, surely the prize committee could have found one of many individuals that are working to promote democracy and peace.

'You Missed This' - You Missed This (http://kumekucha.blogspot.com/) writes in support of Tanzania’s President Jakaya Kikwete, but nevertheless believes the state of the country’s economy is cause for grave concern.

"But by far the most worrying aspect of the whole Tanzanian crisis is the reaction of the administration. There has been a deliberate effort in recent times to release positive economic figures and news on the performance of the economy. Most of the figures are from last year and not the last 10 months that President Kikwete has been in power. There was a unique exception last week when it was revealed that the government's debt had in 9 short months (from January to September, this year) shot up by a staggering $302 million to a total of $9.383 billion. The main culprits, experts say are "unrestricted domestic borrowing and unnecessary foreign debts."

He concludes that the outlook for Tanzania over the coming months is not good and that this will place enormous pressure on the government of Jakaya Kikwete.

'The Sudanese Thinker' - Sudanese Thinker (http://www.sudanesethinker.com/) comments on the decision by Khartoum to expel UN envoy, Jan Plonk, from the country.

"You know what amazes me? That a group like these people are happily pushing around major countries like Britain & the US. I honestly think the NCP is so clearly sticking its finger up in the air for all to see. If Bush and Blair can’t even make pressure on Sudan work to ease the Darfur situation, how the hell do they both want to fix Iraq? Sometimes I tend to think that the NCP is confident UK and US can’t do crap since they’ve already got enough to deal with on their hands namely Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran’s nuclear program.
“The Southerners are rightly pissed off about this. People call the current Sudanese government, the National Unity Government. Ya, sure thing! As if the SPLM gets any say in things like this. Whenever the SPLM tries to say or do something that is against the wishes of the NCP, it gets threatened. National Unity Government or whatever crap people wish to call it, the show is clearly being run by 'democratically elected' Bashir’s NCP. Sigh!"

As Sudanese Thinker states – “a replacement for Plonk will take some time. Time for Khartoum to continue killing people in Darfur, starving them to death, raiding their homes, raping the women. Time for the genocide to continue….”

'Aba Boy' - Aba Boy (http://ababoy.blogspot.com/2006/10/remembering-dick-tiger.html) remembers and honours one of Nigeria’s greatest sportsmen, Dick Tiger, who on the 23rd October won the WBA Middleweight boxing title.

"Dick Tiger was one of the great fighters to come out of the African continent. Tiger became a two-time undisputed world middleweight titlist. Tiger helped keep boxing alive during the 1950s boxing industry recession. Tiger earned an undisputed Light-Heavyweight world championship. In 1962, Tiger won the world middle weight boxing championship. Tiger inspired other Nigerians to go into boxing."

Dick Tiger, an Igbo from Imo State, was also an ardent supporter of Biafran secession and even returned his CBE in protest against Britain’s lack of support. Tiger actively participated in the training of young recruits into the army.

'Black Looks' - Black Looks (http://www.blacklooks.org/2006/10/prison_number_4.html) still in South Africa, reports on her visit to the Old Fort prison complex in Johannesburg – particularly the infamous Number 4 prison which was for “non-white” prisoners.

Words are difficult to describe this place but this quote from Alex La Guma who was a political prisoner in 1953 pretty much sums up the place.

“One of the reasons for my disease (typhoid) is found in this jail, filth. The mats are filthy, the blankets are filthy, the latrines are filthy, the food is filthy, the utensils are filthy, the convicts clothes are filthy. The latrines over flow and make a stench.” – Alex la Guma political prisoner 1953

• Sokari Ekine produces the blog Black Looks, www.blacklooks.org

• Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

Sokari Ekine’s blog, Black Looks (http://www.blacklooks.org/) has been nominated for a Best of Blog Award - you can read about it and cast your vote at:

20- 23 November 2006 - Second Conference of African Ministers of the Economy And Finance (CAMEF II), Yaounde, Cameroon
20 – 21 November 2006: Meeting of Experts
22-23 November 2006 - EU- Africa Ministerial Conference on Migration and Development, Tripoli, Libya
13-17 November 2006 - First Pan African Cultural Congress organised by the African Union , Addis Ababa , Ethiopia
General Theme: “Culture, Integration and African Renaissance”
30 October 2006-Implementation of the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality In Africa : First Report by all AU Member States, for Consideration at the January 2007 Summit to be Held In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
27- 29 October 2006 - Congress of African Scientists and Policymakers, Alexandria, Egypt
26- 27 October 2006 - CSO Consultation and Preparation For PAWO Congress, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Organized by: The Women, Gender & Development Directorate
25- 26 October 2006 - AU/AAVP Consultation HIV Vaccines Research and Development in Africa

FEATURE: With compelling evidence, Victoria Brittain shows how the West has used political assassinations of the Third World leaders as an effective political strategy of control
COMMENT AND ANALYSIS:
- Jacqueline Tanaka argues that for the African healthcare system to work efficiently, organisations like the Bill Gates Foundation need to provide funding to train the African physicians
- Birgit Michaelis writes that the ordinary Somalis have suffered enough
- Assodesir warns that the situation on the ground in Darfur is worsening
LETTERS: Expel Sudanese diplomats from African capitols
PAN AFRICAN POSTCARD: Suren Pillay argues that the Native Club is only concerned about Native Power
BLOGGING AFRICA: Sokari Ekine struggles with the crime situation in South Africa
WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Register now for WSF2007
CONFLICT AND EMERGENCIES: Links to news on Sudan, Somalia, Uganda and THE DRC
HUMAN RIGHTS: Britain Must Pay
WOMEN AND GENDER: AU Countries fail To agree on abortion
REFUGEES AND FORCED MIGRATION: Of social exclusion and refugee integration
ELECTIONS AND GOVERNANCE: The best way to guarantee peace in the DRC
DEVELOPMENT: Gates, Rockefeller and the Green revolution
HEALTH AND HIV/AIDS: Drug resistant TB threat
EDUCATION: Do we really need Shakespeare?
ENVIRONMENT: Uganda to ditch WB/ADB environmental policies
MEDIA AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: Judge rules against SABC
INTERNET AND TECHNOLOGY: EASSY Deal to be signed soon
PLUS: e-Newsletters and Mailings Lists; Fundraising and Useful Resources; Courses, Seminars and Workshops; Jobs.

The Darfur conflict began in 2003, and in just three years, it has left about two hundred thousand people dead and still counting. Assodesir argues that “The situation on the ground has worsened each day with an intensification of attacks in several places obliging humanitarian organizations to evacuate their personnel leaving behind them, women and children in the hands of criminals without scruples.”

With more than two hundred thousand dead, two million refugees and a worsening situation on the ground, the conflict in Darfur presents a hard test for the African Union. The recent extraordinary meeting at the presidential level of the of the African Union Peace and Security Council, held in New York on 20th September 2006 on the margins of the General Assembly of the United Nations, did not give the anticipated result. The extension of AMIS’s (Africa Union Mission in Sudan) mandate was the only important result of the meeting. Heads of State did not succeed in convincing the Sudanese government to accept a stronger United Nations force as requested by resolution 1706 adopted by the UN Security Council on August 31, 2006.

Whereas the AU’s 7000 troops, present on a territory as vast as France, could not manage to prevent sadly famous Janjaweed from killing, looting and raping, the AU also has problems to implement provisions of its own Constitutive Act, which is devoted to the respect of human rights and dignity, peace and security in our continent.

The NGO community was enormously disappointed by the very weak conclusions of the Peace and Security Council meeting. Some days before this extraordinary meeting, NGOs presented to the 15 Member States of the Council a series of recommendations that one can summarize in four points:

- To extend AMIS’s stay in Darfur at least until the end of the year with a stronger mandate and more troops
- To support UNSC resolution 1706 authorizing the deployment an U.N troops in Darfur and to convince Sudan to agreed to this deployment;
- To denounce the plan of the Sudanese government aiming to deploy more than 15000 troops in Darfur and rather call all parties to the conflict, to respect the Peace Agreement and the ceasefire;
- To invite the international community to support AMIS until the end of the year.

Unfortunately, the greatest achievements of this meeting were the extension of AMIS’s mandate until 31 December 2006 and a hypothetical increase in its troops. Nothing was said - at least not officially - on its mandate that remains very weak and very vague. The African Union has agreed to increase its troops in Darfur but has yet to make it happen, or concretise it. The situation on the ground has worsened each day with an intensification of attacks in several places obliging humanitarian organizations to evacuate their personnel, leaving behind women and children in the hands of criminals without scruples. Today, at least 40% of the displaced people do not have access to humanitarian aid. In this situation, every one has a role to play:

A firmer and prompter African Union

Article 4(h) of the Constitutive Act of the AU gives it the right to intervene in a Member State on a decision of Heads of States, in serious circumstances, namely: war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. The AU has the right to do this even without the consent of the concerned State. At this moment where the situation on ground has become more and more alarming, African Union must show more firmness and must act quickly.

The following must been done without delay by the AU:

- To clearly redefine the mandate of AMIS by reinforcing it in order to provide protection to civilians and to disarm Janjaweed militias;
- AMIS must thus transform from an observation force to a true peace making force and a guarantor of human rights and dignity. To achieve this, all Member States must provide troops. African state’s plethoric armies must be finally used for something positive;
- To express clearly its material and financial needs for the deployment of a larger force and to accept all assistance suggested by the UN and other partners;
- To impose targeted sanctions on Sudanese political leaders from all parties of conflicts that violate the Abuja Peace Deal or that prevent its implementation;
- To make a clear decision in favor of deployment of UN troops in which AU must fully take part.

A more coherent and reactive International Community

The international community must be united and must speak with one voice. China and Russia must join the United States, United Kingdom, France and the European Union to pressurize the Sudanese government through comprehensive sanctions including freezing assets, arms and oil embargo, and prohibition of travel among others. At the same time, the international community must immediately support AMIS materially and financially to reinforce it and allow it to deploy across the whole of Darfur. The International Criminal Court must be more vocal in its work on Darfur and even issue arrest warrants if possible against people suspected of carrying out atrocities. The United Nations must be prepared for a robust and massive deployment in Darfur by the end of the year with the consent of Sudan. However, they must also consider a strategically strong intervention without Sudanese consent if the humanitarian situation becomes dangerously worse.

The situation in Darfur is seen as a very first test for the new AU on peace and security issues. Obviously, the AU has a paramount role to play. However, given the gravity of the situation, the entire international community must contribute. All nations of the world have the responsibility to protect Darfur populations because genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity are not African business. They are odious crimes that touch the whole of humankind.

• Assodesir, a pseudonym, is an African activist engaged in Darfur

• Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

Peace talks between the Somalian government and the Islamic courts are scheduled to resume at the end of the month, 30 October 2006. Birgit Michaelis argues that the ordinary Somalis have suffered enough, and says that Islamic courts should bring their judicial procedures into conformity with recognized international and African human rights treaties and standards.

“I do not want to live in Mogadishu” says Ibrahim Sherif Nur, a newcomer to the Dadaab refugee camp, which is located in Kenya's North Eastern Province. It took him 20 days to flee with his family from Somalia's capital to Liboi, a border post on the Kenyan-Somali frontier. Dadaab, a complex of three refugee camps, is already hosting some 134,000, mainly Somali, refugees and at the moment there is a considerable influx of refugees as violence escalates in Somalia. Kenya is cooperating with UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) and may be forced to set up an additional refugee camp in Dadaab. There are more than 400,000 IDPs (internally displaced persons) in Somalia, 250,000 of them are living in Mogadishu in war-destroyed buildings under pitiful conditions. Most of the IDPs have to beg for food.

Somalis are, by most indices of human development, severely impoverished. Any increase in conflict could create a severe humanitarian crisis in Somalia, according to one United Nations agency. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned that double the 1.8 million people currently in need of urgent assistance were at risk as malnutrition rates are high in many areas. Like the humanitarian situation the human rights situation is a disaster too. Home to 10 million predominantly Muslim people, the country has been without a functioning government since the former president, Mohamed Siad Barre, was ousted in 1991.

Human rights violations under the regime of Mohamed Siad Barre

The Somali Republic collapsed in 1991 with the overthrow of the Siad Barre government, the disintegration of the state into civil war, the establishment of various and shifting warlord-controlled zones in the south, and the separation of the north-western third of the country. Major General Mohamed Siad Barre’s government originated in a military coup in 1969 after nine years of civilian multi-party government, following Somalia’s independence in 1960. His government was overthrown just over 21 years later, in 1991, by armed opposition forces based in Ethiopia. The Siad Barre government was a military-based, one-party Marxist-Leninist system marked by constant repression of opposition, clanism (clanism particularly refers to clan favouritism in political decision-making and public resource allocation), corruption and economic mismanagement.

The government was responsible for a persistent pattern of gross human rights violations, including large-scale killings by the army in the northwest, culminating in massacres and bombing in Hargeisa in the 80s; systematic torture of political prisoners by the National Security Service; arbitrary and long-term detentions of thousands of prisoners of conscience; grossly unfair trials by National Security Courts; many judicial executions; numerous political killings; and harsh treatment of prisoners in special security prisons. In the northwest in 1991, the Somali National Movement (SNM) force defeated the government forces and declared independence for “Somaliland” from the rest of Somalia, within the borders of the former British Somaliland Protectorate. In the northeast, the Puntland Regional State was declared in 1998 as a future part of a federal Somalia, consisting of two and a half former administrative regions of the former Somalia. [1]

After the state collapse in 1991 clan-based warlords and their armed militias took over and ruled the country until this June. Somalia plunged into chaos and anarchy. Tens of thousands of persons, mostly civilians, have died in interfactional and interclan fighting. The warlords and their militias are responsible for numerous human rights abuses such us kidnapping for ransom, torture, rape, beatings, unlawful killings and crimes such as theft, armed robbery, extortion, cattle rustling and piracy. The warlords’ rule led to infrastructure collapse, refugee flows and humanitarian disaster, which had exceptionally severe effects in this impoverished country. It further caused political instability in the Horn of Africa, which was affected by other armed conflicts and humanitarian and human rights crises.

The formation of the Transitional Federal Government

Numerous efforts have been made since 1991 with varied international support to try to resolve the crisis of state collapse and civil war in Somalia. But none has been successful. In 2000 a peace conference was convened at Arta in Djibouti by Djibouti’s President. The conference elected a Transitional National Assembly, which formed the Transitional National Government (TNG), installed in Mogadishu. The TNG, with a three-year term, controlled only a little part of Mogadishu and did not manage to establish a national system of administration of justice, a national army or police force. Faction fighting continued.

In October 2002 the 14th Somalia peace talks since the state collapse opened in Kenya. The “Somali National Reconciliation Conference” was sponsored by the Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD), an inter-governmental regional grouping in the Horn and East Africa. In August 2004 members of a Transitional Federal Parliament were sworn in and Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed was elected as President with a five-year term. Yusuf belongs to the original warlord class, which was instrumental in the destruction of the central state.

Several posts in the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) are held by warlords. Still in Nairobi there was a deep rift in the TFG on the future seat of government and a deployment of peacekeeping troops by the African Union. The Transitional Federal Institutions (TFI) relocated from Kenya to Somalia in June 2005. Esteeming Mogadishu too dangerous as seat of government the TFG first settled in Jowhar and later moved to Baidoa.

Most Somalis have a strong desire for a central state but are deeply disappointed with the TFG, which is internationally recognized but does not even have Baidoa under its control. It is divided by disputes and its effectiveness must be questioned. After more than two years the TFG has failed in promoting reconciliation, curbing the power of the warlords and disarming their militias. The executive and judicial branches remain badly underdeveloped and essentially non-functional. The TFG’s omission to establish local administration left a political vacuum. A functioning public administration and judicial system are indispensable for the promotion and protection of human rights and help prevent impunity. Warlords and their militias must be held accountable for war crimes and human rights abuses. Meanwhile, the TFG is perceived within Somalia more as a faction than a national authority.

The rise of the Islamists

After the fall of Siad Barre, Islamists began to argue that the only alternative to clanism and the failed Somali nationalism is political Islam. War weariness, desperation, desire for peace and order as well as widespread poverty seems to have attracted Somalis to join the fundamentalist camp. The state collapse not only created a fertile ground for the emergence and development of Islamic fundamentalism as a major force in Somalia, it also fostered the free movement of extremist and terrorist forces. The country is a refuge for the al-Quaeda team that bombed the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and a Kenyan resort in 2002.

Al-Ittihad Al-Islami (AIAI), a radical Islamist organization, became prominent in 1991 with the objective of toppling President Barre. Its main goal was to form a strong Islamic state in Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya and Somalia, all countries with an ethnic Somali population. In the mid-90s, AIAI initiated attacks in Ethiopia. Islamic courts emerged in the late 90s primarily in Mogadishu and became the de facto judiciary in the capital after the collapse of the government. A Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) was formed from the amalgamation of different clan-based courts, dominated by the Hawiye.

Ideologically, the UIC and AIAI share many similarities as they both have the same radical approach: they want an Islamic state in Somalia governed by Sharia law, sustain a charity wing and the UIC has militias as AIAI once had. The former leader of AIAI, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, is now the most prominent figure of the UIC representing its hard-line faction.

The takeover of Mogadishu on 5 June 2006 by the UIC was the most important political event in Somalia in the last 16 years. It removed the political class of secular, clan-based warlords, which has divided and ruled the country since the collapse of the central state in 1991. As the UIC continues to spread its influence throughout Somalia, the international community has reacted with concern since there are accusations that the UIC has links with al-Qaeda. In February this year the warlords formed the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT) backed by the USA with the help of secret funding. The ARPCT clashed with the UIC culminating in a major battle for Mogadishu that led to victory for the UIC in June. The four-month-long strife left 400 civilians dead and 1,500 injured, according to the Dr. Ismael Jumale Human Rights Centre, a Somali NGO.

The UIC is consolidating its power and outside of Mogadishu now controls the provinces of Lower Shabelle, Benadir, Middle Shabelle, Hiran, Gelgedut and parts of Mudug and Lower Juba region. After first gaining the support of Somalis for restoring peace and stability in Mogadishu and ending the warlords’ extortion activities there is now growing fear of the Islamists’ radicalism. Many East African countries consider the UIC takeover of Somalia a threat. Ethiopia strengthened its troop presence on the Somali border.

Eritrea, hostile to Ethiopia, is allegedly supporting the UIC with arms and ammunition. There is a danger that tensions may increase and that a proxy war will take place on Somali soil. The Islamist militia has stressed it will defend the country from Ethiopian forces and is recruiting and training youth in special camps in preparation of jihad (Holy War). The UIC is also opposing a deployment of peacekeepers which had been approved by the AU in mid-September but which is unlikely to be realized due to an UN arms embargo and to lack of funding. On 24 September the Islamists seized Kismayo where the port had been seen as a possible landing point for the peacekeeping force. For the TFG, the takeover of Kismayo was a violation of a ceasefire agreed during peace talks in Khartoum, Sudan, which are mediated by the Arab League.

Human rights violations under the Union of Islamic Courts

The capture of Kismayo, where the UIC had closed down a local radio station and detained three journalists, was followed by three days of anti-Islamist protest. The initial euphoria following the UIC’s victory over the warlords has turned into fear and protest. There are numerous reports of a crackdown on the media. The UIC’s strategy of controlling ideological and political expression also leads to restrictions of the freedom of assembly. On 17 August its forces broke up a meeting in Mogadishu of the moderate Muslim group Al-Islah, which advocates dialogue between the UIC and the TFG. The UIC also curbs non-Islamist sectors of Somali society and bans political meetings.

Islamic guards are stopping minibuses to check women’s clothing and men’s hairstyles. Clothing deemed as un-Islamic is hacked with scissors. In some parts of Mogadishu, cinemas showing foreign films or international football have been raided and closed down and there is a ban on some radio stations from playing western music and local love songs. This level of intervention into private life is not well-received by Somali society. The UIC’s morality policy and the prominence of known militants within its leadership show parallels with the Taliban’s rise in Afghanistan in the 1990s. Like the Taliban the hard-liners within the UIC want an Islamic Somali state where the Qur’an is the constitution and Islamic law, the Sharia, is the only source of legislation.

Sharia laws are derived from the Qur’an, the Islamic holy book, from the writings of renowned Islamic scholars and from the judicial interpretation of these writings. The rules of customary laws in the African context, including Somalia, are contained in the customs and norms of life of the respective communities, but are unwritten. Before the emergence of the Islamic courts no Sharia-based penal or criminal law was part of Somalia’s penal legislation. In recent years, several death sentences have been imposed and carried out by Islamic courts and their militias, although most death sentences have been replaced by compensation negotiated between the clans of the victim and the perpetrator according to Somali customary law.

Omar Hussein was publicly executed in Mogadishu on 2 May 2006. He was tied to a stake, hooded and stabbed to death by the 16-year-old son of the man who he admitted stabbing to death in February. Omar Hussein had been sentenced to death hours earlier by an Islamic court. A large crowd gathered to witness the public execution, with several fainting at the sight of blood gushing from his head. The teenager repeatedly stabbed the condemned person in the head and neck. He reportedly expressed happiness at his infliction of the death sentence in this way. A Sharia law of retribution, (qisas, i.e. ’like-for-like’) was applied in this capital case, after the victim’s family reportedly refused to accept compensation (diya). Such a retribution execution is unprecedented in Somalia and Somali customary law. It is also contrary to Somalia’s former penal code, which would be the basis for court proceedings in state courts. [2]

Another public execution took place in Mogadishu on 22 September this year. Abulkadir Mohamed Diriye and Mahad Osman Ugas, having been convicted of murder, were shot in a public place in the presence of a large crowd including journalists invited to attend the execution. Some of the spectators reportedly vomited after they saw and heard the bullets pouring into the convicts’ bodies. There are also public floggings for selling drugs. On 23 September, for the first time a woman was flogged by Islamist militias for selling cannabis. She was given 11 lashes. Arrested for being in possession of a small amount of the drug worth $1, she pleaded innocence while being beaten. Five men were also whipped, and the seized drugs were burned.

Corporal punishments violate the most elementary standards of humane treatment. Executions constitute the ultimate form of cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment in violation of the most fundamental right of every human being: the right to life. When carried out as a public theatre they can only serve to fuel a climate of violence and vengeance. Amnesty International categorically opposes the implementation of the death penalty, but takes no position on the introduction and application of laws based on the interpretation of religious texts, as long as this is carried out in full respect of human rights principles. These principles include the right to legal representation, the right of appeal to a higher court, the right of a fair trial and the right of those condemned to death to petition for clemency.

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has commented on the application of Sharia law: “When national courts apply Sharia, they must do so in accordance with the other obligations taken by the State. Trials must always accord with international fair trial standards”. Somalia is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

Amnesty International calls on the Islamic courts to bring their judicial procedures into conformity with recognized international and African human rights treaties and standards. The human rights organization calls on the TFG to take steps to establish a fair judicial system throughout the country as a fundamental part of the reconstruction of Somalia.

• The author is the country coordinator for Kenya, Tanzania and Somalia of Amnesty International - German section.

• Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

References

[1] See Amnesty International, Somalia: Urgent need for effective human rights protection under the new transitional government, AI Index AFR 52/001/2005, 17 March 2005, pp. 2 ff

[2] See Amnesty International, Somalia: Child publicly executes father’s killer on orders of summary court, AI Index AFR 52/001/2006, 9 May 2006