Mogadishu: Armed conflict in Somalia continues to exact a heavy toll on civilians, damaging infrastructure and livelihoods, displacing millions of people, and impeding access to humanitarian relief for communities in need, according to a United Nations report launched in the country's capital, Mogadishu.
Entitled "Protection of Civilians: Building the Foundation for Peace, Security and Human Rights in Somalia," the report by the UN Human Rights Office and the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) covers the period from 1 January 2016 to 14 October 2017.
During this period, UNSOM documented a total of 2,078 civilian deaths and 2,507 injuries.
More than half the casualties (60%) were attributed to Al Shabaab militants, 13% to clan militias, 11% to State actors, including the army and the police, 4% to the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM), and 12% to unidentified or undetermined attackers.
"Ultimately, civilians are paying the price for failure to resolve Somalias conflicts through political means," said the head of UNSOM, the UN Secretary-Generals Special Representative for Somalia Michael Keating. "And parties to the conflict are simply not doing enough to shield civilians from the violence. This is shameful".
Civilians were the victims of unlawful attacks by being directly targeted and through the use of indiscriminate bomb and suicide attacks by non-State groups.
Such attacks, which are prohibited under international human rights and humanitarian laws, are, in most cases, likely to constitute war crimes, and it is imperative that perpetrators are identified and held accountable, the report says.
The worst incident on a single day was the twin bomb blasts in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, on 14 October, attributed to Al-Shabaab by Somali government officials, in which at least 512 people are officially recorded to have died as of 1 December, along with 316 injured.
"This barbaric act was the deadliest attack with an improved explosive device (IED) in Somalias history and surely one of the worst ever on the continent, if not the world," Special Representative Keating said. "Sadly, its impact will be felt for a long time".
Somalia has been plagued by armed violence for decades, as well as poverty, marginalization, natural hazards, insecurity and political instability.
UNSOM is working with the East African country's authorities to support national reconciliation, provide strategic and policy advice on various aspects of peacebuilding and state-building, monitor and report on the human rights situation, and help coordinate the efforts of the international community.
