U.N. calls for donors to fund compensation for civilian victims of the long-running conflict in the Horn of Africa nation
NAIROBI (AlertNet) – Civilian victims of the conflict in Somalia should be paid compensation based on traditional dispute resolution mechanisms in the Horn of Africa nation, a report says.
The report by the Washington-based group Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC) estimates violence in the anarchic nation is killing more civilians than in Afghanistan, where 2,777 civilian deaths were recorded last year.
The United Nation's refugee agency (UNHCR), which backed the report, is calling for donors to contribute funds to compensate for civilian deaths and injuries caused by African Union and government troops.
“It is not only a moral imperative to help civilians recover from what they have suffered as a result of conflict, but it is also a strategic one because any hearts and minds campaign ... would be undermined if the civilian population were to suffer with no compensation," Bruno Geddo, UNHCR's Somalia Representative, said at the report's launch in Nairobi.
The research for the report was based on more than 100 interviews with civilians in Somalia this year.
About 1,400 civilians were killed in the capital Mogadishu in the first half of 2011, according to a Somali non-governmental organisation Elman Peace and Human Rights Centre.
In July, the World Health Organization said 6,543 patients had been admitted to Mogadishu hospitals with weapons-related injuries since the start of the year.
Civilians in Mogadishu have been killed or injured in frequent suicide blasts, roadside bombs, shelling and gunbattles between al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab insurgents fighting government soldiers and 9,000 AU troops from Uganda and Burundi.
The report recommended the setting up of a mechanism within the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) to investigate incidents, analyse data and respond to victims.
ALL SIDES TO BLAME
It said a combination of traditional Somali law, which provides for blood money, sharia law and secular law could be used. It said most of those interviewed favoured direct payments to individuals or families directly affected.
In Afghanistan, government and international military forces pay between $1,000 and $2,000 in compensation when they unintentionally cause a civilian death, said the report's author Nikolaus Grubeck, a lawyer with CIVIC.
The report said all sides to the Somali conflict have violated international humanitarian law.
But Grubeck said there was little point engaging with al Shabaab because they deliberately target civilians, for example amputating the limbs of suspected government supporters.
"Al Shabaab ... don't care. I think somehow, some way should be found also of ensuring that they are brought to book, possibly by sanctions, ICC (International Criminal Court)," said Wafula Wamunyinyi, a senior official on the AU Commission to Somalia.
Civilian casualties caused by AMISOM have decreased this year thanks to a new policy preventing troops firing into areas where civilians are present, the report said.
Grubeck said it would cost "a few hundred thousand dollars" to set up a tracking mechanism.
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