[A-List] EU Given War Crime Warning over Somalia Aid

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/eu/story/0,,2052060,00.html>
EU given war crime warning over Somalia aid

· Fears that funding could prompt complicity charge
· Mogadishu clans 'being targeted for cleansing'

Xan Rice in Nairobi
Saturday April 7, 2007
The Guardian

European lawyers are examining whether alleged war crimes committed by
Ethiopian and Somali troops in Mogadishu last week could expose the EU
to accusations of complicity because of its formidable financial
assistance to the two countries.

A massive Ethiopian-led offensive to pacify an insurgency in the
Somali capital left nearly 400 people dead between March 29 and April
1. Human rights groups say many of the victims were civilians and
accuse the Ethiopians of using tanks and attack helicopters to fire
indiscriminately into densely populated areas. Some analysts in
Somalia have backed the war crimes allegations, saying that specific
clans in Mogadishu have been targeted for "cleansing" by
pro-government forces.

Reports of the attacks prompted the European commission's senior
adviser on security for Somalia to send a letter, seen by the
Guardian, to Eric van der Linden, the commission's head of delegation
in Kenya, on April 2, alerting him to the "significance of the events
of the past four days in Mogadishu in terms of the international law
on conflict".

The security adviser, who has wide experience in African conflict
zones, including Darfur, said the head of the African Union
peacekeeping mission, Amisom and comprising 1,200 Ugandans, might also
be guilty of war crimes for failing to act responsibly. Ethiopian
helicopters used the Amisom-controlled airport in Mogadishu as a base
for launching helicopter attacks and flying in reinforcements.

"I need to advise you that there are strong grounds to believe that
the Ethiopian government and the transitional federal government of
Somalia and the Amisom force commander...have through commission or
omission violated the Rome statute of the international criminal court
[ICC]," he wrote. He accused Ethiopian and Somali troops of breaking
international law by intentionally attacking civilians in Mogadishu
and by ordering their displacement.

Ethiopia ousted the Somali Council of Islamic Courts from power in
late December but has been unable to pacify Mogadishu, which is
controlled by the powerful Hawiye clan. Though the insurgents are
former Islamist fighters and clan and warlord militias, the Ethiopians
and the Somali government have singled out two subclans as bearing the
greatest responsibility. Somalia's president, Abdullahi Yusuf, a
former warlord despised in the capital, said recently that civilians
in areas where insurgents operated would be "bombarded".

Ethiopia, Somalia and Uganda vehemently reject the war crimes
allegations. Mr van der Linden said it was up the ICC to look at war
crimes. "Is there any suspicion that this is what occurred? To my
mind, no. But the person who wrote the letter is a security
specialist, so I have sent it to our headquarters for legal experts to
look at."

Lawyers will look at the security adviser's warning about the European
commission's potential culpability as the largest donor to both
Somalia and Ethiopia and as a big financial backer of the peacekeeping
mission. "In regards the above-mentioned violations of international
law, there arise urgent questions of responsibility and potential
complicity in the commission of war crimes by the European commission
and its partners, specifically with regard to the current and ongoing
financial and technical assistance being provided by the EC to any of
the parties who may have committed war crimes," the letter read.

One Somali expert, who requested anonymity, said the chaotic state of
the country meant war crimes charges were unlikely to reach the ICC.

Strong support from the US for Ethiopia's incursion is another
potential obstacle to investigation. But the expert and another
regional analyst said it was time the international community spoke
out against abuses. "When the Sudan government bombs villages in
Darfur, it's called genocide," the second analyst said. "But when the
Ethiopians bomb civilian areas...nothing is said. Is it because this
is perceived to be part of the war on terror?"

-- 
Yoshie