A/HRC/10/85
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was closed for flights of the United Nations, its personnel could not access the area to verify the
allegation. It was also reported that with the withdrawal of the Ethiopian troops from
Belet Weyne in November 2008, nearly all IDPs displaced to nearby areas in July, have
reportedly returned home.
B. Human rights violations in relation to specific categories
44. Right to life and physical integrity: As is evident, the violations of these two basic rights
are primarily linked to the ongoing armed conflict. Both the warring sides accuse each other of
violations, the verification of which is difficult, as there is no international human rights
presence on the ground. The killing of 20 women by a roadside bomb in Mogadishu and the
death of more than 40 civilians on board of two buses on the road between Afgooye and
Mogadishu on 15 August are just two gruesome reminders of a desperate human rights situation
in Somalia, which could not be independently verified. Both sides have denied any
responsibility.
45. It must be added, however, that armed conflict is not the only reason for these violations.
Human rights violations are also committed by soldiers, police, warlords, clan leaders, etc.
Accountability in this regard must, however, lie with the Government, since it has the primary
responsibility for law enforcement and justice.
46. In the absence of effective government protection, murder, assassination, abduction and
wounding by insurgent forces, criminal elements or those with personal/private axes to grind are
also quite rampant. Some examples of this are:
• Insurgents continue to target civilians with links or supposed links to the TFI as well as
human rights activists. Women appear to be especially targeted. As weapons with little
accuracy are being used for the attacks, passers-by are often victims.
• The town of Baidoa, which is second to Mogadishu in terms of importance since the
Transitional Federal Parliament (TFP) was located there, though still under nominal
control of the TFG, has become precarious in recent months as the insurgents were
reportedly regrouping at its periphery. In the last week of October, at least 2 civilians
were killed and 4 injured in two separate attacks at the TFG Regional Security Offices
and at a military convoy passing in the Telecom area, while at least 13 civilians were
severely injured when insurgents fired several mortar rounds into populated areas of the
town on 4 October 2008.
• On 25 October, Duniya Sheikh Doon, Chairwoman of the local IIDA branch a women’s
development organization and a local defender of women’s rights and fighter against
FGM, was killed in the town of Guriel by unknown gunmen.
• On 3 November, Mariam “Dabayarey” Aden Mohamed, Chairwoman of the Bay region
women’s organization, was killed in Baidoa by unknown gunmen. The previous
weekend, when the Chairwoman of IIDA organization was killed in Guri-ceel Mudug
Region in Central Somalia, she was worried that she too would meet the same fate.
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