The small hotels of Mogadishu were searched by the government at night and their guests were sorted into Isaaqs and non-Isaaqs; the Isaaqs would then be subsequently detained. In less than two weeks, their forces systematically murdered more than 8,000 Bosniaks (Bosnian. The term "genocide" came to be used more and more frequently by human rights observers.[138]. As many as fifty thousand Somalis died and the city of Hargeisa was virtually levelled in what outside analysts depicted as a genocidal campaign by the Barre regime against the Isaaq.[103]. Human Rights Watch reports that "out of about 400 passengers, 29 men identified themselves as Isaaks. No soldier or member of the security forces has ever been disciplined or prosecuted for abuses, which highlights the general lack of accountability. The atmosphere of lawlessness has enabled soldiers to harass civilians for the purposes of extortion. [68], The Isaaq clan was not the only target of violence. Let's go get some grub at the Fashion mall food court, you look like you could use it." heard a weird sound. [155], On government orders, all Isaaq senior officials were proscribed from leaving the country for fear they would joining the SNM. Bosnian genocide (1995) Massacres of Hutus (1996-1997) Effacer le tableau (2002-2003) Darfur genocide (2003-) Yazidi genocide (2014-2017) Uyghur genocide (2014-) Rohingya genocide (2016-) Related topics Raphael Lemkin Anti-communist mass killings Indonesia 1965-66 Atrocities in the Congo Free State Compulsory sterilization Democide Ethnic cleansing The exact number of land-mines is unknown but estimated to be between one and two million, most of them planted in what was then known as northern Somalia. Many thousands of others are being systematically denied food because Somali forces are deliberately holding up essential supplies. Killings in Hargeisa started on 31 May. Refugee interviews conducted by Africa Watch described how the government separated the non-Isaaqs from the Isaaqs before the attack was initiated: As soon as the fighting broke out, the government used loudspeakers to sort the civilians out into Darood and Isaak. According to Human Rights Watch's Africa Watch, hundreds of Isaaqs have been executed and subjected to other reprisals on the basis of such suspicions. Human Rights Watch reported that the refugees often "rampaged through villages and nomadic encampments near their numerous camps and claimed the lives of thousands of others, mostly nomads". [117] The military used "heavy artillery and tanks, causing severe damage, both to civilians and to property. Government forces reacted with appalling savagery to the SNM seizure of Burao and near capture of Hargeisa. [10], General Morgan (later to be known as the Butcher of Hargeisa)[79] was also responsible for the policy letter written to his father-in-law during his time as the military governor of the north,[80] this letter came to be known as 'The Letter of Death',[81][82] in which he "proposed the foundations for a scorched-earth policy to get rid of 'anti-Somali germs'". 2,704. [Non-Isaaq territory]. One of them was Jean Metenier, a French hospital technician in Hargeisa, who told reporters upon arrival at Nairobi airport that "at least two dozen people were executed by firing squad against the wall of his house and the corpses subsequently dumped on the streets to serve "as an example. A report by Africa Watch stated that the policy was "the outcome of a specific conception of how the war against the insurgents should be fought," with the logic being to "punish civilians for their presumed support for the SNM attacks and to discourage them from further assistance". [72] Both electricity and water-supply lines were cut from the city, and residents resorted to fetching water from streams, and due to it being the rainy season they were also able to collect water from rooftops. The situation was further exacerbated by the appointment of Mohamed Hashi Gani, a cousin of President Siad Barre and fellow Marehan Darod, as the military commander of the northern regions with headquarters in Hargeisa in 1980. This included "dragging men out of their houses and shooting them at point blank range" and summary killing of civilians, the report also noted that "civilians of all ages who had gathered in the centre of town, or those standing outside their homes watching the events were killed on the spot. Their counter-attack started with use of heavy weapons. Within British Somaliland the Isaaq constituted the majority group within the protectorate[40] with Dir and Harti groups also having sizeable populations to the west and east of Isaaq respectively. Project staff were frequently harassed by the military even when attending medical emergencies and on one occasion shots were fired. Srebrenica massacre, slaying of more than 7,000 Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) boys and men, perpetrated by Bosnian Serb forces in Srebrenica, a town in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, in July 1995. 7 April 1992 - January 1994. "[152] In a separate case, a man leaving Erigavo with money and food was "robbed, beaten and shot by the military". NBC News reported a story on 12 January 1989 that the Reagan Administration "had information eight months earlier that Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi gave Somalia chemical weapons". [97] The SNM felt the pressure to cease their activities on the Ethiopia-Somalia border, and decided to attack the northern territories of Somalia to take control of the major cities in the north. An instrument of oppression, the Ogadenis and the regular Somali army were viewed as alien forces sent to oppress the Isaaq. He continued: "Today, we possess the right remedy for the virus in the [body of the] Somali State." Over 300 Isaaq detainees were held the National Security Service headquarters,[155] at Godka, another NSS facility (prison), at a military camp at Salaan Sharafta, at Laanta Bur Prison, a maximum security prison 50 kilometers from Mogadishu. Until about eight months ago, the urbanised population of Issaqi were concentrated in Hargeisa, Berbera and Burao. They would shout, "Who is from Galkayo? The massacre, in an enclave supposed to be under UN . [SOM2850]", "Over 300,000 Somalis, Fleeing Civil War, Cross into Ethiopia", "UNPO: Somaliland: Large-scale Exhumations Started", "Refworld | Somalia: 1) Detailed map of Somalia and map showing Somalia in the African continent; 2) Information regarding reprisals against Isaaq clan members throughout Somalia, particularly Mogadishu, and against Somali National Movement (SNM) members; 3) Information on the government's attack on Hargeisa in May 1988 and an SNM assault on Mohammed Siyaad Barre Prison in July 1988", "Aid agency alleged torture by U.S.-backed military", "Somaliland: Time for African Union Leadership", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Isaaq_genocide&oldid=1149330585. [37] The Somali government also planted one million land mines within Isaaq territory.[38]. [144], Like Berbera, Erigavo was an Isaaq inhabited city that the SNM did not attack, it has experienced no armed conflict between the SNM and the Somali army for at least several months, yet civilian Isaaqs have suffered both killings and arrests there at the hands of the army and other government forces. One of the militias formed by the Ogaden refugees was the WSLF, officially created to fight Ethiopia and "reclaim ethnic Somali territory" in Ethiopia[63] but it was used primarily against local Isaaq civilians and nomads. The massacre, which was the worst episode of mass murder within Europe since . People were apparently shot even inside mosques. They will only be released from detention centers, even after being raped, if the family pays a ransom. [46] The army banned political parties, suspended the constitution and closed the National Assembly, General Siad Barre was chosen as the head of state and presided over the Supreme Revolutionary Council. There is no doubt that the unity of these people will restore the balance of the scales which are now tipped in favour of the Isaaq. Barre along with the Supreme Revolutionary Council, to entrench their rule and in an attempt to regain the Somali Region of Ethiopia, launched a war against Ethiopia in 1977, this war was referred to in Somalia as 'The War for Western Somalia'. The regime's use of armed refugees against local Isaaq populations in the north is also referenced in an Africa Watch report: "[M]any Ogadeni refugees were recruited into the WSLF. The use of land-mines by government forces against civilians was especially damaging in this particular region due to majority of Isaaqs (and other northern Somalis) being pastoral nomads, reliant on the grazing of sheep, goats, and camels. Since President Barre is also the Minister of Defence -- the previous holder of that portfolio, General Mohammad Ali Samatar, having been promoted Prime Minister on January 30, 1987 -- the report is seemingly confined to family members. [155] Similar to the case in Berbera, Erigavo, Sheikh and other towns in the north, there was no SNM activity in Mogadishu, moreover, Mogadishu was geographically removed from the situation in the north of the country due to its position in the southern regions, nevertheless the Somali government committed to its policy of persecution of Isaaq civilians in Mogadishu. Amnesty International confirmed the large-scale targeting and killing of civilian population by Somali government troops. A Somali woman and her emaciated baby in 1992. [146], The army started its campaign in Erigavo soon after the outbreak of fighting in Burao and Hargeisa. "[41][pageneeded], In October 1969 the military seized power in a coup following the assassination of President Abdirashid Ali Shermarke and the ensuing political parliamentary debate on succession which ended in a deadlock. Another factor behind the strong support from the Isaaq was the fact that the border that was drawn between Ethiopia and Somalia cut off important grazing grounds for Isaaq tribesmen. The government's victimisation of the Isaaq was not limited to northern regions susceptible to SNM attacks. [125] Isaaq military officers were one of the first groups to be arrested. [68] The Somali government, represented by Prime Minister Mohammad Ali Samatar has denied possession of chemical weapons. A Srebrenica massacre survivor touches a bullet riddled wall at a warehouse near the elementary school in Petkovci, 200 kilometers (124 miles) north of Sarajevo, where Serb . [33][34] Rape was also used as a weapon against Isaaqs. The response culminated in the bombing and artillery bombardment of Hargeisa to a point of virtual destruction. In his absence, he was convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) recorded at least 596 civilian casualties, including 296 killings, by early August. Arrests usually happened at night and were carried out by the Hangash forces. [188], According to Mohamed Haji Ingiriis, the vicious atrocities during the reign of Barre were not an isolated event nor unusual in Somalia's history. Foreign aid workers who fled the fighting confirmed that Burao was "emptied out"[121] as a result of the government's campaign. Foa. The settlement of Ogaden refugees in Isaaq territory, and the arming of these groups (which effectively created a foreign army in the north[60]), further antagonised local Isaaq population. The WSLF was ostensibly being trained to fight Ethiopia to regain the Ogaden [Western Somalia], but, in fact, terrorized the Isaak [Isaaq] civilian population living in the border region, which came to fear them more than the Ethiopian army. In describing the government's response to the SNM offensive, the report observed: The government response to the attack has been particularly brutal and without regard to civilian casualties in fact there is ample evidence that civilian casualties have been deliberately inflicted so as to destroy the support base of the SNM, which is composed mainly of people from the Isaaq tribe. Preventing the city from falling to the SNM became a critical goal of the government both from a military strategy standpoint and the psychological impact such loss would have. According to Ali, "with funds and clan appeals, he [Barre] was able to entice the bulk of SSDF fighters to return from Ethiopia and participate in his genocidal wars against the Isaq in the north and later against the Hawiye in the South, including Mogadisho".[186]. "[87][self-published source]. The UN team reported that, with the Somali Army's encouragement, the Ogadeni refugees carried out extensive looting in several northern towns. turned around. [126], Artillery shelling of Hargeisa started on the third day of the fighting[128] and was accompanied by large-scale aerial bombing of the city carried out by aircraft of the Somali Air Force. Mass graves have since been found as well as corpses which were left to rot in the streets where they fell. Among the victims were many students. The Guardian reported the scale of destruction as follows: The civil war left Hargeisa in ruins: 80 percent of the building in the town were destroyed, many of them by the aerial bombardment of General Siad Barre's Zimbabwean mercenary pilots. Agarey, Jajabod, Dalqableh, Ubaaleh, Adadley and Farjano-Megasta were affected. Those who could be of financial help or influence to the SNM, because of social status, were to be put in prison. Emina erimovi. UN "peacekeepers" torture a Somali child over fire "We are not going to achieve a new world order without paying for it in blood as well as in words and money," warned Arthur Schlesinger Jr. in the July/August 1995 issue of Foreign Affairs.Schlesinger had taken to the pages of the flagship journal of the Council on Foreign Relations to vindicate the dubious proposition that the United Nations . There are landmines at such high-altitude grazing areas between Burao and Erigavo. [62] The Somali Army managed the training of both groups, and costs incurred including any expenditure for their arms and equipment, radio communications and fuel came from the army's budget. The investigation was commissioned jointly by the United Nations Coordination Unit (UNCU) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. The Governor of Hargeisa estimates the present population to be around 70,000, down from a pre-conflict population figure of 370,000. Between June and the end of September, government forces as well as armed Ethiopian (Ogadeni) refugees continued to raid the immediate vicinity of Berbera as well as the villages between Berbera and Hargeisa. Somalia child massacre bosnian government propaganda Advertisement Answer No one rated this answer yet why not be the first? [156] Most of the detainees were released only after bribes were paid. The entire population in the area was regarded as 'the enemy'.". This was intended to strengthen their unity and to surround Somali unity with a defensive wall. Kingofjojoland Answer: The United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) recorded a total of 1,154 civilian casualties by mid-November. The report noted that the agency's staff have reported "many violations of human rights for which they believe the Somali Government must take the main responsibility". A United Nations inspection team that visited the area in 1988 reported that the Ethiopian refugees (Ogaden) were carrying weapons supplied by the Somali Army. A number of genocide scholars (including Israel Charny,[110] Gregory Stanton,[111] Deborah Mayersen,[112] and Adam Jones[113]) as well as international media outlets, such as The Guardian,[114] The Washington Post[115] and Al Jazeera[11][116] among others, have referred to the case as one of genocide. But I'm still struggling.". No one has suggested this term for the collective brutalization of the people of Mudug [Majerteen]. Years of sustained state violence have created a serious level of political unrest in the region. [75] In order to weaken support for the SNM within the Isaaqs, the government enacted a policy of systematic use of large-scale violence against the local Isaaq population. machine gunning from aircraft) of fleeing refugees until they reached safety at the Ethiopian borders.[163]. Large areas of grazing land in Zeyla were also mined One consequence of landmines was the cessation of sheep exports to Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The intervention culminated in the so-called Battle of Mogadishu on October 3-4, 1993, in which 18 U.S. soldiers and hundreds of Somali militia fighters and civilians . Observers believe that Hargeisa is now composed largely of dependents of the military, which has a substantial, visible presence in Hargeisa, a significant number of Ogadeni refugees, and squatters who are using the properties of those who fled.[140]. [98], Barre's response to the SNM attacks was of unparalleled brutality, with explicit aims of handling the "Isaaq problem", he ordered "the shelling and aerial bombardment of the major cities in the northwest and the systematic destruction of Isaaq dwellings, settlements and water points". The sixth man was charged with being a member of the SNM and accompanying the SNM fighter who escaped. [84] Morgan writes that the Isaaq people must be "subjected to a campaign of obliteration" in order to prevent the Isaaq from "rais[ing] their heads again". The Isaaqs entrepreneurial disposition was also a factor of the large-scale looting, which the Ogadenis saw as 'undeserved': In northern Somalia, the Isaaq clans confronted a massive influx of Ogadeni refugees from eastern Ethiopia whom Siyad encouraged to loot property, attack people, and destabilize cities. [184] According to Rebecca Richards, the violence in the north and northwest was disproportionate but affected many communities, particularly Isaaq. [90] The military was operating under the assumption that if the SNM was active in a particular area, local residents must be supporters of the rebels. The genocidal campaign ended in anarchy, and the state collapse that followed bred further genocidal campaigns by some of the militia groups that then seized power at a local level. [68] These reports state that canisters of the nerve gases Soman and Sarin were unloaded from a Libyan Airlines civilian flight to Mogadishu on 7 October. [44] The political marginalisation that majority of northerners felt was further exacerbated by economic deprivation, the north received just under 7 percent of nationally disbursed development assistance by the late 1970s,[45] as more than 95% of all development projects and scholarships were distributed in the south. The first McDonald's drive-through was built in 1975 in Sierra Vista, Arizona, near military installation called Fort Huachuca to serve military members who were not allowed to exit their vehicles off-post while wearing combat uniform. The fate of those who can no longer be traced remains largely unknown. Many other Somali communities, such as the Umar Mahmud sub-lineage of Majeerteen also became the victims of the violence and war. [53] The Barre regime's oppressive policies against the Isaaq continued when in 1981, the Barre regime declared economic warfare on Somalis from the northwest and specifically the Isaaq. These killings started after the SNM escalated its incursions into the Isaaq majority cities in the north. One . . Residential properties which were near important government offices were also blown up. Extensive boobytrap activity has also been reported from Hargeysa."[176]. The city itself was destroyed. Detainees were taken to a number of locations including Birjeeh (a former military headquarters of the 26th Sector of the Somali Armed Forces), Malka-Durduro (a military compound), the Central Prison of Hargeisa, the headquarters of NSS (National Security Service), the headquarters of the Military Police as well as other secret detention centres. Streams of refugees fleeing the devastation were not spared by government planes. [53] Ideologically, the SNM was a Western-leaning movement and was described as "one of the most democratic movements in the Horn of Africa".[71]. [67] Gani's rule was especially harsh against Isaaq, he removed them from all key economic positions, seized their properties and placed the northern regions under emergency laws. A Bosnian court found a member of the Republika Srpska police force, eljko Lelek, guilty of crimes against humanity in Viegrad, including rape and sentenced him to sixteen years in prison. The brutal nature of the Siad Barre government response was unprecedented, and led to what Robin Cohen described as one of the "worst civil wars in Africa". [68], By early 1978 the Barre regime had full control of the Somali state's economic apparatus, including large amounts of foreign aid which were deployed "using selective redistribution to ensure loyalty to the regime". Water reservoirs at War Ibraan and Beli Iidlay were mined. They were shot as a reprisal when a major military offensive against the SNM in the vicinity failed; some of the victims were very old men. [187] African historian, Lidwien Kapteijns in discussing the targeting of Isaaq people as a distinct group in relation to other groups also targeted by the Barre government states: Collective clan-based violence against civilians always represents a violation of human rights. According to Human Rights Watch's Africa Watch, some 700 Isaaqs from the armed forces were brought to one prison, this particular prison was already overcrowded, an additional 70 military personnel were then also brought for detention (40 from Gabiley and 30 from Hargeisa). It showed a woman in a white skirt and red cardigan hanging from a tree in a wood outside Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia. Many reported seeing members of their families killed in the barrage.[118]. One example of this is the case of Abdi Rageh, an Isaaq former military officer, was forcibly removed from a flight leaving for Frankfurt. An emblematic aspect of Siad Barre's government's "policy of genocide towards the Issak group of clans" was the laying of "over one-million unmarked mines, booby traps and other lethal devices in the Northern Region"[171] over the duration of the conflict. The rest of what came to be known as Somali Republic was under Italian rule under the title Trust Territory of Somaliland (also known as Somalia Italiana). "[145], Human Rights Watch's Africa Watch also reported the case of 11 Isaaq men, some of whom were nomads, being arrested by the government on the outskirts of Berbera. [105] Civilian Isaaqs were "killed, imprisoned under severe conditions, forced to flee across the border, or became displaced in the far-off countryside". Other aims of the policy included arming other clans in the region[88] and encouraging them to fight the dominant Isaaq: "Since it has become evident that the Isaaq were, by act and intent, with the SNM; and since we could not see them giving up the line they have pursued so deceptively for some time; and in order to forestall them; we arranged for the other inhabitants of the North continuous meetings and a mobilization campaign designed to rouse them to action and to raise their level of awareness. The south proceeded to dominate all of the important posts of the new state, this included the President, Prime Minister, Minister of Defence, Minister of Interior and Minister of Foreign Affairs posts all given to politicians hailing from the south. The British Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe stated that the British Government was "deeply concerned" about authoritative reports that chemical weapons had been received in Somalia. Their huts were burned and their animals killed. [123], A curfew was imposed on 27 May starting at 6:00 p.m, the army began systematic house-to-house searches, looking for SNM fighters. [106], The Siad Barre government adopted a policy that "any able-bodied Isaaq who could help the SNM had to be killed. As the state became increasingly reliant on international aid, aid resources allocated for the refugees caused further resentment from the local Isaaq residents, especially as they felt no effort was made on the government's part to compensate them for bearing the burden of the war. A quarter of these, and possibly as many as 300,000, were now struggling to survive in wretched conditions in refugee camps in Ethiopia while a similar number had been forced to leave Africa. Many of the houses are boarded up because of the small anti-personnel mines scattered by Gen Siad Barre's forces when tens of thousands of Hargeisa residents fled. Our rough visual inspection confirms this estimate. [169][170], In addition to the "systematic destruction of Isaaq dwellings, settlements and water points", bombing raids were conducted on major cities in the northwest regions inhabited mainly by Isaaq on orders of President Barre.[99].
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