Rights of Somali minority violated - report

Thursday 25 November 2010
Abdilatif Maalim, AfricaaNews reporter in Nairobi, Kenya

Minority Rights Group International said in a new report that minorities in war torn Somalia are subjected to summary executions, reported beheadings and rape.

The report, Nor redress: Somalia forgotten minorities documents the suffering of minorities in Somalia which is said to be worse than that of other groups owing to lack of protection.

According to the report, majority clans are segregating discriminating and abusing Somali minorities. The majority clans are excluding the minorities including, Bantu and Gaboye from any political, social and economic arrangements, denying them access to justice, notes the report.

In a press briefing in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi the executive of the Minority Rights International, Mark Lattimer said tens of thousands of minorities have been displaced from south-central Somalia due to civil war.

'There is a well-known saying in Somali: 'No-one will weep for you. No-one will avenge you.' That is the reality for the country's minorities,' he added.

Radical Islamist groups control large swaths of land in southern Somalia. Western backed transitional Federal government only control few areas in Mogadishu. Somali almost two decade civil war has uprooted hundreds of thousands from their homes. The renewed fight since 2007 has claimed the lives over 21,000 peopled.

According to the report, militant Islamist group al-Shabaab has persecuted Bantus and Christians in areas under its control in south and central Somalia, shooting and beheading some individuals.

Women from minority groups who fled to the breakaway state of Puntland have also falling victim to persistent rape from men belonging to majority clans, the report said.

MRG called for recognition of the country's minorities and their rights in the constitution and also recommended that United Nations and other aid agencies put more focus on minority rights in their programs.

Source: AfricaNews.
Link: http://www.africanews.com/site/Rights_of_Somali_minority_violated_report/list_messages/36252.