"[87][self-published source]. [142] The victims were killed in batches of 30-40. [142] Those confirmed to be Isaaq were taken to the Hangash compound where their belongings and money were confiscated. One example of this is the case of Abdi Rageh, an Isaaq former military officer, was forcibly removed from a flight leaving for Frankfurt. [90] On every encounter between the SNM and government forces, "the army would conduct a sweep of the area where the incident occurred. 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. Why does Andrew Tate look like the fucking red orb from . This resulted in entire villages being depopulated and towns getting plundered. A mobile military court sentenced 26 Isaaqs to death. The government's victimisation of the Isaaq was not limited to northern regions susceptible to SNM attacks. One observer remarked that Hargeisa is being dismantled piece by piece. Government forces reacted with appalling savagery to the SNM seizure of Burao and near capture of Hargeisa. The majority were due to Al-Shabab targeted and . [125], The SNM attack on Hargeisa started at 2:15a.m. on 31 May. [20], In addition to state-sponsored violence, other means of crushing the Isaaq uprising included the government's continuation of its policy of political repression and harsh economic measures, this included withholding international food aid donations to the Isaaq. 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. The scale and character of the collective clan-based violence committed against Isaaq civilians who, although they were not the only civilians brutalized by the government, were especially targeted suggest that this dimension of state-violence in the Northwest [Isaaq territory] indeed amounts to clan cleansing. They say a picture is worth a . During the period of unrest in the north of the country, the government started arresting civilian Isaaq residents of the capital, Mogadishu. [37] The Somali government also planted one million land mines within Isaaq territory.[38]. 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. So tired, so poor. These included long-range artillery guns that were placed on the hilltops near the Hargeisa Zoo, artillery guns were also placed on the hilltops behind the Badhka (an open ground used for public executions by the government). A Human Rights Watch testimony before the United States Congress' Africa Subcommittee on 14 July 1988 stated that the actions of the Barre government have "created a level of violence unprecedented in scope and duration in Somalia". Government forces looted all warehouses and shops, with the open market of the city being one of their prime targets. A US Country Study handbook describes the Barre regime retaliation against the Umar Mahmud following a failed coup attempt in 1978 which resulted in 2,000 Umar Mahmuud civilians dying in Mudug. People were apparently shot even inside mosques. ""[127] The attacks on civilians were the result of the military's realisation the local Isaaq population of Hargeisa welcomed the SNM attack. Berbera, a city on the Red Sea coast, at the time the principal port of Somalia after Mogadishu, was also targeted by government troops. [53] The SNM continued this pattern of attacks from 1982 and throughout the 1980s, at a time the Ogaden Somalis (some of whom were recruited refugees) made up the bulk of Barre's armed forces accused of committing acts of genocide against the Isaaq people of the north. [68] The Somali government, represented by Prime Minister Mohammad Ali Samatar has denied possession of chemical weapons. "[59], Barre was essentially ensuring the loyalty of the Ogaden refugees through continued preferential treatment and protection at the expense of the local Isaaq who were not only bypassed for economic, social and political advancement but also forcefully suppressed by both the Somali Armed Forces and the Ogaden refugee militias.[53]. [144], The genocide continued in Berbera as late into the conflict as August 1990,[143] when a group of 20 civilians were executed by the military in reprisal for an SNM ambush that happened in Dubar, near Berbera,[143] the incident demonstrated that "the genocide continued in Berbera longer than other cities. [152] His body was then "dumped in the town and was eaten to the waist by hyenas". [51] This has caused great deal of burden on both the local Isaaqs and state apparatus, especially coming off a costly war with Ethiopia, Somali studies scholar I. M. Lewis noted that "the stark fact remained that the economy of the country simply did not possess the resources to absorb so many uprooted people."[55]. They appealed to the non-Isaaks to leave so they could burn the town and all those who remained behind. The scale of destruction was unprecedented, up to 90 percent of the city (then the second largest city in Somalia) was destroyed,[132][133][134] (United States embassy estimated 70 percent of the city was damaged or destroyed). Human Rights Watch reports that "out of about 400 passengers, 29 men identified themselves as Isaaks. [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. Most of the people from these towns left; the government provided them with transportation.[119]. [149] A woman who had visited the town the following month, and who was interviewed by Africa Watch in London, described the incident:[150], I was told that the SNM had attacked the town at the end of March and killed a lot of soldiers; the militias had fled; two days later, the militias returned and killed a lot of Isaak civilians. Somalia intervention, United States-led military operation in 1992-93 mounted as part of a wider international humanitarian and peacekeeping effort in Somalia that began in the summer of 1992 and ended in the spring of 1995. They will only be released from detention centers, even after being raped, if the family pays a ransom. [74] It was clear then that the Barre regime had labelled the entire Isaaq population as enemy of the state. [41][pageneeded] One example is cited by Hassan Megag Samater, the former director in charge of the Ministry of Education in Somaliland, he states that he had handed his post in 1966 with the northern region having "several hundred schools at all levels, from elementary schools to college. 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". [33][34] Rape was also used as a weapon against Isaaqs. 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. . 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. From there the SNM successfully launched a guerrilla war against the Barre regime through incursions and hit and run operations on army positions within Isaaq territories before returning to Ethiopia. [Non-Isaaq territory]. Those arrested Isaaqs included businessmen, Somali Airlines staff, army officers, employees of relief agencies, and civil servants. my supervisor is controlling a tiny RC forklift and placing a tiny pallet on a real pallet. The report noted one case where a 13-year-old girl from Erigavo was raped by six government soldiers, it also stated that "looting, raping and bashing are commonplace. In discussing the unusually frank tone of the report, Hassan Abdi Madar states: "The report is addressed to the President of the SDR, the Minister of Defence, and Minister of Interior. Oxfam Australia (formerly known as Community Aid Abroad) described the situation in El Afweyn as follows: It is known that many people have fled from the town of Elafweyn following bombing attacks by the government forces. However, for the Northwest [Isaaq], this and even stronger terms (such as genocide) are regularly used. The use of large-scale aerial bombardment was unprecedented in the history of African civil unrest. The countryside was an area of operations for the government-armed Ethiopian (Ogadeni) refugees. Extensive boobytrap activity has also been reported from Hargeysa."[176]. Summary executions of Hargeisa Isaaqs happened at Badhka, close to a hill in the outskirts of the city, where 25 soldiers shot blindfolded victims whose hands and feet were tied. [177], One of the most densely mined areas in the north were the agricultural settlements around Gabiley and Arabsiyo. Modes of transport belonging to Isaaq civilians were confiscated by force, only military transport was allowed in the city. by . [141], Government attacks on Berbera included mass arrests, wanton killing of civilians, confiscation of civilian property, especially cars, luggage and food at the city's port, which were taken to Mogadishu. [28][29][30] The scale of destruction led to Hargeisa being known as the 'Dresden of Africa'. Much of Hargeisa appears to be a "ghost town," and many homes and building are virtually empty. "[152] In a separate case, a man leaving Erigavo with money and food was "robbed, beaten and shot by the military". [67] Burao, then the third largest city in Somalia[23][62] was "razed to the ground",[120] and most of its inhabitants fled the country to seek refuge in Ethiopia. [126] They then began to shell the city. 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. In 1988, government forces shelled and bombed the capital of Hargeisa. [180] At Tur Debe, government forces destroyed wells by using mines as demolition explosives. Other descriptions of what took place in Hargeisa include: Siad Barre focused his wrath (and American-supported military might) against his Northern opposition. [146] A number of large mass graves were found in Erigavo in 2012. "[176] In describing the prevalence of land-mines especially in the countryside surrounding cities inhabited by Isaaq, the Somalia Handbook states, "Large patterned minefields, exceeding 100,000 mines have been emplaced in sections surrounding the city. [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. The Marine Commander of Berbera, Colonel Muse 'Biqil', along with two other senior military officers ordered the 11 nomads be burnt alive. 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'. somali child massacre bosnian. Foa. [142] The passengers were Somalis deported from Saudi Arabia after being imprisoned there before the war broke out. [156] Most of the detainees were released only after bribes were paid. Their huts were burned and their animals killed. [146], The army started its campaign in Erigavo soon after the outbreak of fighting in Burao and Hargeisa. [63] A Human Rights Watch's Africa Watch report states "The WSLF was ostensibly being trained to fight Ethiopia to regain the Ogaden, but, in fact, terrorized the Isaak civilian population living in the border region, which came to fear them more than the Ethiopian army. The government started a program of creating paramilitary groups among the Ogaden refugees as well as conscripting them into the national army, it also encouraged the creation of armed militia groups among members of the Darod (the clan of Siad Barre). At the time, some Isaaqs were fighting for independence, and to eliminate the threat, Barre tried to exterminate all of them. "SOMALIA FIGHTS CHARGES OF HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES", "BBC NEWS | Africa | Analysis: Somalia's powerbrokers", "Morgan's Death Letter-The Final Solution to Somalia's Isaq Problem", "How Mass Atrocities End: An Evidence-Based Counter-Narrative", "Is the conflict against the SNM in northern Somalia condemned by the international community? Between 27 May and 1 June, planes which brought soldiers from Mogadishu carried Isaaq detainees on the return flight. Arrests were done at such scale that, to make room for the Isaaqs detainees, all non-Isaaqs were released, including those sentenced to death or life imprisonment for murder and drug-related offences. Afraad's objective was to push the WSLF out of their strongholds (Isaaq territory) whereas the WSLF responded by retaliating further against Isaaq civilians living in the border region.[62]. A report published by Mines Advisory Group noted, "At Ina Guha, 42 out of 62 small water reservoirs were mined and unusable". They were deported due to accusations by Saudi authorities of irregularities in their residence documents. [124], The government, upon hearing of the SNM attack on Burao, began rounding up Isaaq men fearing they would assist an SNM attack on Hargeisa. The view from the air is of a town without roofs. The group was split into 9 civilians and 17 SNM fighters, and many of the victims were nomads. The presence of such a large number of refugees, especially when Somalia's total population at the time was 4.1million (UN estimates[56]) meant that virtually one out of every four people in Somalia was a refugee. 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. [72] The testimony of Aryeh Neier (co-founder of HRW) explains the context in which the SNM was formed: Since 1981, with the formation of the SNM, northern Somalia has seen the worst atrocities. Somali Air Force aircraft started intense aerial bombardment of Burao on Tuesday 31 May. The first Somali state to be granted its independence from colonial powers was Somaliland, a former British protectorate that gained independence on 26 June 1960. All vehicles (including taxis) were confiscated to control the movement of civilian population, this also ensured sufficient transport was available for the use of military and government officials. When news of the outbreak of fighting in Burao reached Sheikh, government-armed Ogadeni refugees in the area as well as the army units stationed there started to kill civilians and loot their homes. [117], Following the first two days of the conflict, angered by the extent to which Isaaqs welcomed the SNM incursion, and frustrated by their inability to contain the SNM advance, the military started attacking the civilian population without restraint "as if it was the enemy". Hargeisa, Somalia's second city and the former capital of British Somaliland was bombed, strafed and rocketed. Hargeisa which originally had a population of 350,000, was 70 percent destroyed, Burao was "devastated" in the same raids. Two weeks later, on 25 January The Washington Post reported that the government of Gen. Mohammed Siad Barre "is stockpiling chemical weapons in warehouses near its capital, Mogadishu". The Governor of Hargeisa estimates the present population to be around 70,000, down from a pre-conflict population figure of 370,000. The majority saw their houses either damaged or destroyed by the shelling. However, when its goal is to exterminate and expel large numbers of people based on their group identity alone, it becomes clan cleansing. 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. One . [158][159] These men included professionals, businessmen, and teachers. [141] Atrocities committed in Berbera by the government against Isaaq civilians were especially brutal, Human Rights Watch reported that Berbera had suffered "some of the worst abuses of the war"[141] even though the SNM had never launched an attack on Berbera like they did on Burao and Hargeisa. por | Abr 24, 2022 | konsekvenser av emigrationen till usa | komin malm friskvrd | Abr 24, 2022 | konsekvenser av emigrationen till usa | komin malm friskvrd [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". Another example of the simmering discontent in the north was a coup attempt by northern officers that was thwarted in 1961. [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. Agarey, Jajabod, Dalqableh, Ubaaleh, Adadley and Farjano-Megasta were affected. You might wanna slow your roll dude Imao, you must have been hella drunk. [154] There were also widespread arrests of Isaaq men in the area, they were usually detained at a nearby military compound. 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. The Somalia Handbook for U.S. armed forces notes that "the landmine problem in Somalia can be described as a general problem in the southern sectors of Somalia and a very serious problem in the northern sectors. [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. [41][pageneeded] The northerners, especially the majority Isaaq,and Harti believed that the unified state would be divided federally (north and south) and that they would receive a fair share of representation post unification. "[48] The new regime became a client state of the Soviet Union and on the first anniversary of the coup officially adopted scientific socialism as its core ideology. [144] Some of these villages included Da'ar-buduq, which lies half-way between Hargeisa and Berbera; Dara-Godle, which lies 20 kilometers southwest of Berbera; Sheikh Abdal, near the central Mandera Prison; Dubato; Dala, located east of Mandera Prison; and Lasa-Da'awo. [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 Guardian reported the brutal campaign by the Somali government against the Isaaq: Hundred of Thousands of people have been killed, dispersed or bombed out of their homes in northern Somalia after government military operations which Western aid workers say are little short of genocide. 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. [67] He also ordered the transfer of Afraad away from the border region, giving the WSLF complete control of the border region, thus leaving Isaaq nomads in the area without any protection against WSLF violence. The fate of those who can no longer be traced remains largely unknown. [10], The policy letter (also known as the Morgan Report)[83] was officially a top secret report to the president on "implemented and recommended measures" for a "final solution" to Somalia's "Isaaq problem". [21] The genocide also included the levelling and complete destruction of the second and third largest cities in the Somali Republic, Hargeisa (which was 90 percent destroyed)[22] and Burao (70 percent destroyed), respectively,[23] and had caused up to 500,000[24][25] Somalis of the region, primarily of the Isaaq clan,[26] to flee their land and cross the border to Hartasheikh in Ethiopia as refugees in what was described as "one of the fastest and largest forced movements of people recorded in Africa",[24] which resulted in the creation of the world's largest refugee camp then (1988),[27] with another 400,000 being displaced. [143] The killings took place near the airport at a site about 10 kilometers from Berbera, and were conducted at night. somali child massacre bosnian. A farmer's wife was arrested in Gogol Wanaag, accused of sheltering an SNM fighter. Some 50,000 people are believed to have lost their lives there as a result of summary executions, aerial bombardments and ground attacks. Upon discovering these stashes, soldiers removed the jewellery and other valuables and placed booby-traps or mines in these hiding places. The UN court upheld the life sentence for his role in the killing of about 8,000 Bosnian Muslim (Bosniak) men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995. The campaign had completely destroyed Hargeisa, causing its population of 500,000 to flee across the border and the city was "reduced to a ghost town with 14,000 buildings destroyed and a further 12,000 heavily damaged". [161], The Ogadeni refugees formed militant groups that hunted Isaaq civilians around Bioley, Adhi-Adais, Saba'ad, Las-Dhureh, Daamka and Agabar refugee camps. The United Nations Development Programme stated that "the 21-year regime of Siyad Barre had one of the worst human rights records in Africa. 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. 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. This was especially harsh due to region's semi-arid climate and frequent water shortages. 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. 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 . [50] The Soviet Union, which at the time was allied to both Somalia and Ethiopia turned against Barre,[51] and (with their allies) provided enough support to the Ethiopian army to defeat the Somali forces and force a withdrawal from the Somali region of Ethiopia.

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