"[142] The commander of the Hangash forces at Berbera and his deputy, Calas and Dakhare respectively, "sorted out the passengers according to their clan". [169][170], In addition to the "systematic destruction of Isaaq dwellings, settlements and water points", bombing raids were conducted on major cities in the northwest regions inhabited mainly by Isaaq on orders of President Barre.[99]. [46] The army banned political parties, suspended the constitution and closed the National Assembly, General Siad Barre was chosen as the head of state and presided over the Supreme Revolutionary Council. In addition to arresting several others, six Isaaq men were executed on the spot, including two elderly brothers, their two sons and the son-in-law of one of the elderly man who was visiting from abroad. In his absence, he was convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity. British soldiers training in Canada will soon be firing at foam targets with names like "Bosnian Male RPG" and "Somali Male AK 47". Much of Hargeisa appears to be a "ghost town," and many homes and building are virtually empty. [142] Most of them were men of fighting age that "the army feared would join the SNM,"[141] a few women were also among the victims. One of them was Jean Metenier, a French hospital technician in Hargeisa, who told reporters upon arrival at Nairobi airport that "at least two dozen people were executed by firing squad against the wall of his house and the corpses subsequently dumped on the streets to serve "as an example. Although few journalists have been authorised to visit the area, tens of thousands of people are understood to have died during a series of bombing raids on the towns last August conducted mainly by mercenaries recruited in Zimbabwe. "[53] [43], The northern dissatisfaction with the constitution and terms of unification was a subject that the successive civilian governments continued to ignore. Somalia: A Government at War with its Own People. African historian Lidwien Kapteijns describes the ordeal of Isaaqs refugees fleeing their homes as follows: Throughout this period, the whole civilian population appears to have become a target, in their homes and anywhere they sought refuge. 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 . The countryside was an area of operations for the government-armed Ethiopian (Ogadeni) refugees. Other descriptions of what took place in Hargeisa include: Siad Barre focused his wrath (and American-supported military might) against his Northern opposition. [24] The killings happened during the Somali Civil War and have been referred to as a "forgotten genocide". In Sanaag region access to villages by CAA staff was denied by the military and project resources such as vehicles and drugs misappropriated by government officials. [121], In addition to using both air and ground military capabilities against the Isaaq, the Somali government also hired South African and Rhodesian mercenaries[167][168] to fly and maintain its fleet of British Hawker Hunter aircraft and carry out bombing missions over Isaaq cities. Human Rights Watch reports that "out of about 400 passengers, 29 men identified themselves as Isaaks. They appealed to the non-Isaaks to leave so they could burn the town and all those who remained behind. The Legacy of Black Hawk Down | History | Smithsonian Magazine BRUCE OR D MAKE IT EMIT WAVES OF AWEEK. Since President Barre is also the Minister of Defence -- the previous holder of that portfolio, General Mohammad Ali Samatar, having been promoted Prime Minister on January 30, 1987 -- the report is seemingly confined to family members. [123] On the following day the curfew started earlier at 4:00pm; the third day at 2:00pm; and on the fourth day at 11:00am. Barre also targeted the Hawiye. [123], Anticipating fighting to start, people stock-piled food, coal and other essential supplies. Somalia child massacre bosnian government propaganda Advertisement Answer No one rated this answer yet why not be the first? He added, "Perhaps. Recent travellers in the north added that many Ogaden Somalis from the UN refugee camps and a fair number of another pro-government group, the Oromo, have been seen carrying American M-16 rifles. The harsh reprisals, widespread bombing and burning of villages followed every time there was an attack by SNM believed to be hiding in Ethiopia. Somalia intervention | military operation [1992-1993] | Britannica [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. The atmosphere of lawlessness has enabled soldiers to harass civilians for the purposes of extortion. This combined with poor security, made primary health work impossible and endangered the lives of staff, leading to a withdrawal by the agency. [141] The killing of detainees started when orders came from Mogadishu to cease the transfer of detainees. EXCLUSIVE: Canada helping Brits buy 'Bosnian' and 'Somali' targets for Aid officials said that up to 800,000 people almost all of them Issaq nomads have been displaced as a result of the civil war. "[108], Somali historian Mohamed Haji Ingiriis refers to "the state-sponsored genocidal campaigns leveled at the Isaaq clan-group", which he notes is "popularly known in public discourses as the 'Hargeisa Holocaust'" as a "forgotten genocide".[109]. The fate of those who can no longer be traced remains largely unknown. [161], The Ogadeni refugees formed militant groups that hunted Isaaq civilians around Bioley, Adhi-Adais, Saba'ad, Las-Dhureh, Daamka and Agabar refugee camps. [124] A significant number of civilian deaths at the time occurred as a result of government soldiers robbing them, those who refused to hand valuables (watches, jewellery and money) or were not quick enough to comply with soldiers' demands were shot on the spot. [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". It led a group of Isaaq businesspeople, students, former civil servants and former politicians who lived in the United Kingdom[53][70] to found the Somali National Movement (SNM) in London in April 1981. [72] Both electricity and water-supply lines were cut from the city, and residents resorted to fetching water from streams, and due to it being the rainy season they were also able to collect water from rooftops. [90] On every encounter between the SNM and government forces, "the army would conduct a sweep of the area where the incident occurred. The report also stated that the city was without electricity or a functioning water system, and that the Somali government was "actively soliciting multilateral and bilateral donors for reconstruction assistance"[140] of cities primarily destroyed by the government's own forces. One observer remarked that Hargeisa is being dismantled piece by piece. In spite of promises made to the Isaaq elders the violence against civilians and nomads by WSLF continued. Those who could be of financial help or influence to the SNM, because of social status, were to be put in prison. 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). 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. [142] Eight of the passengers detained were killed, the remaining 21 were imprisoned in Berbera and later released. More than 10,000 people were killed in the first month after the conflict began in late May, according to reports reaching diplomats here. This resulted in entire villages being depopulated and towns getting plundered. Emina erimovi. The WSLF was ostensibly being trained to fight Ethiopia to regain the Ogaden [Western Somalia], but, in fact, terrorized the Isaak [Isaaq] civilian population living in the border region, which came to fear them more than the Ethiopian army. [57] The Barre regime exploited the presence of such a large number of refugees as means of seeking foreign aid,[58] as well as a vehicle to displacing those deemed hostile to the state, notably the Isaaqs, Human Rights Watch noted that: "Northerners [Isaaqs] were dismissed from and not allowed to work in government offices dealing with refugee affairs, so that they would not discover the truth about the government's policies. "[87][self-published source]. The south proceeded to dominate all of the important posts of the new state, this included the President, Prime Minister, Minister of Defence, Minister of Interior and Minister of Foreign Affairs posts all given to politicians hailing from the south. In addition to the killings, more than 20,000 civilians were expelled from the areaa process known as ethnic cleansing. Another factor behind the strong support from the Isaaq was the fact that the border that was drawn between Ethiopia and Somalia cut off important grazing grounds for Isaaq tribesmen. [53] Somalia's defeat in the Ethio-Somali War caused an influx of Ethiopian refugees (mostly ethnic Somalis and some Oromo)[54] across the border to Somalia. Among those inhabitants are: the Awdal people, the various sections of Western Somalis [including Ogaden refugees], the Las Qorey people, and the Daami people, etc. It showed a woman in a white skirt and red cardigan hanging from a tree in a wood outside Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia. Government forces reacted with appalling savagery to the SNM seizure of Burao and near capture of Hargeisa. The entire population in the area was regarded as 'the enemy'.". The government's victimisation of the Isaaq was not limited to northern regions susceptible to SNM attacks. Srebrenica Massacre By the summer of 1995, three towns in eastern BosniaSrebrenica, Zepa and Gorazderemained under control of the Bosnian government. The intervention culminated in the so-called Battle of Mogadishu on October 3-4, 1993, in which 18 U.S. soldiers and hundreds of Somali militia fighters and civilians . [72], By 1982 the SNM transferred their headquarters to Dire Dawa in Ethiopia,[73] as both Somalia and Ethiopia at the time offered safe havens of operation for resistance groups against each other. [155] Similar to the case in Berbera, Erigavo, Sheikh and other towns in the north, there was no SNM activity in Mogadishu, moreover, Mogadishu was geographically removed from the situation in the north of the country due to its position in the southern regions, nevertheless the Somali government committed to its policy of persecution of Isaaq civilians in Mogadishu. [152] His body was then "dumped in the town and was eaten to the waist by hyenas". [148] On 16 March 1989, SNM forces captured and held Erigavo for three hours before leaving the town. [95], In 1987, Siad Barre, the president of Somalia, frustrated by lack of success of the army against insurgents from the Somali National Movement in the north of country, offered the Ethiopian government a deal in which they stop sheltering and giving support to the SNM in return for Somalia giving up its territorial claim over Ethiopia's Somali Region. Human Rights Watch reported that the refugees often "rampaged through villages and nomadic encampments near their numerous camps and claimed the lives of thousands of others, mostly nomads". "[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]. One example of this is the case of Abdi Rageh, an Isaaq former military officer, was forcibly removed from a flight leaving for Frankfurt. Extensive looting has taken place even though the military has controlled the city since late July 1988. [144], Like Berbera, Erigavo was an Isaaq inhabited city that the SNM did not attack, it has experienced no armed conflict between the SNM and the Somali army for at least several months, yet civilian Isaaqs have suffered both killings and arrests there at the hands of the army and other government forces. [155], On 21 July 1989,[157] following religious disturbances that occurred a week earlier, 47 middle-class Isaaq men living in the capital city of Mogadishu were taken from their homes in the middle of the night, they were then transported to Jasiira, a communal beach west of Mogadishu and summarily executed. "[145], Human Rights Watch's Africa Watch also reported the case of 11 Isaaq men, some of whom were nomads, being arrested by the government on the outskirts of Berbera. As expressed animosity and discontent in the north grew, Barre armed the Ogaden refugees, and in doing so created an irregular army operating inside Isaaq territories. The burnt nomads were buried in a spot about 10 kilometers east of Batalale, a communal beach and tourist spot in Berbera. 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. People were apparently shot even inside mosques. A United States Congressional General Accounting Office team reported the Somali government's response to the SNM attack as follows: The Somali army reportedly responded to the SNM attacks in May 1988 with extreme force, inflicting heavy civilian casualties and damages to Hargeisa and Burao.The Somali military resorted to using artillery and aerial shelling in heavily populated urban centres in its effort to retake Burao and Hargeisa. [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. Homes are devoid of doors, window frames, appliances, clothes, and furniture. One incident following a brief capture of the town in 1989 saw 60 Isaaq elders, who could not escape the city due to the difficult mountainous terrain, get taken out of their homes by government forces and were "shot by a firing squad against a wall of the public relations office". Massacres followed, as did the killing of livestock, the use of landmines to blow up reservoirs, the burning of huts, arrests and detentions. somali child massacre bosnian griffin park demolished Genocide scholar Adam Jones also discusses this particular aspect of the Siad Barre's campaign against the Isaaq: In two months, from May to July 1988, between 50,000 and 100,000 people were massacred by the regime's forces. A group of Hargeisa elders were also seized to witness the 'proceedings' of the court, so they would 'talk sense' to the residents of Hargeisa. Hargeisa was the second largest city of the country,[122] it was also strategically important due to its geographic proximity to Ethiopia (which made it central to military planning of successive Somali governments). 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 number of genocide scholars (including Israel Charny,[110] Gregory Stanton,[111] Deborah Mayersen,[112] and Adam Jones[113]) as well as international media outlets, such as The Guardian,[114] The Washington Post[115] and Al Jazeera[11][116] among others, have referred to the case as one of genocide. [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. However, the current residents of Hargeisa are not believed to be the former Issak residents. Even before the beginning of the War in Somalia (2006-2009) there were significant assertions and accusations of the use of disinformation and propaganda tactics, classed as forms of information warfare, by various parties to shape the causes and course of the conflict. The existence of the SNM has provided a pretext for President Barre and his military deputies in the north to wage a war against peaceful citizens and to enable them to consolidate their control of the country by terrorizing anyone who is suspected of not being wholeheartedly pro-government. somali child massacre bosnian

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