By Mohamed A. Hussein
On Monday, September 8, 2014, Human Rights Watch (HRW) presented to the public its finding on research conducted in Somalia to document abuses by the African Union troops in Mogadishu against innocent Somali women and girls as young as 12 years old. The report, titled: “The Power These Men Have Over Us”, detailed how African troops were exploiting and raping Somali women in their bases in Mogadishu in broad daylight.
Somali people in every corner of the world immediately criticized these acts of rape by African Union troops against innocent Somali women living in camps in Mogadishu for the internally displaced people. They called on the African Union to leave Somalia, since it is now known that some of their true intention is to abuse young girls. Others were speechless and unable to express their feelings. It can be sensed from the few words that they posted in social media that people were in shock on finding this barbaric acts against young innocent Somali girls.
Somalis, who often have different opinions on any political discourse, seemed to be united on this issue. They are outraged about what is taking place in Mogadishu and calling the Somali people to stand united against these barbaric actions of African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM).
The HRW report also pointed out that African Union troops basically took advantage of vulnerable women using different tactics. Instead of the troops fighting with al-Shabab, they have decided to turn their mission into a limited humanitarian service, where they provide medicine, food and water to people who are internally displaced in the camps in Mogadishu.
The word in Mogadishu and its surrounding was that AMISOM troops provide better medicine and food than other agencies, including non-governmental agents and as a result, most of the women, who do not have any other place to take to their sick children, go to the African Union base. It was mentioned in the HRW report that once Somali women come to the base for help, certain Ugandan and Burundian officers, using interpreters, instructed some of the women in the waiting line to return to the base later without their kids.
One woman who was interviewed by the HRW representative said that upon her return to the base, she found out that what was expected of her was to have sex with the officer before any medicine was given to her. At that point, she said that she was afraid for her life and did what she was forced to do. Another woman said that to get some medicine for her sick mother, she was told to follow an officer into a tent where she was gang raped by at least four Burundian soldiers against her will.
These women had not previously reported any of the incidents to any authority because they were afraid it would backfire. One woman who was raped by an AMISOM soldier said she was not able to go out to do her errands without kids calling her names after some neighbors disclosed that she was raped. Another girl reported that her father had chased her from his house when he found out how she was supporting herself. Other women said that they were afraid that the African troops and their cohorts may end up finding them in the camp if they report their rape and that is why most of the women interviewed by HRW asked for their names to be kept secret in the report out of fear.
The HRW report also suggested that these human rights violations could have been detected by an average person merely observing what was going on in the African Union base. One woman who was told to come back for medicine for her kids reported that when she returned to the base, there were another four girls and each was led to a different tent. She later figured out what they were there for after she confronted those who had raped her.
Anyone who observed people on a line waiting for humanitarian help in African Union bases and saw certain women being told to come back should have been able to foresee what those officers were up to. Those women were seen entering and exiting African Union bases easily, despite them being supposedly heavily guarded.
The question now being asked in social media by Somalis is how the government troops did not know what was happening before the HRW report came out and to prevent the abuse? We demand from the Somali federal government to provide an answer to this question.
To its credit, however, the African Union commission at least tried to respond to the allegations presented in the HRW report immediately, but the commission missed the point. The commission was expected to apologize to those who had suffered under its leadership and to call for a swift internal investigation, but instead it tried to defend itself against the allegation before it had conducted an internal investigation. It accused HRW of generalization and it undermined the validity of the HRW report.
Its response published on Somali websites continues to say: “The portrayal of mission and general conclusion drawn from the allegation against it, as reflected in the title of the HRW report constitute a misrepresentation of the sacrifices, achievements and genuine commitment of AMISOM.”
The response went on to describe the latest 14 areas recovered from al-Shabab, the opening up of main routes and so on. Does AMISOM think the actual sacrifices and achievements by AMISOM troops justify these horrible crimes committed by its forces against innocent Somali women?
Much of the response talked about how the African Union soldiers were trained to safeguard human rights before they even arrived in Mogadishu and how it is almost impossible for what HRW reported to take place. With this kind of response, it is no wonder the troops, who knew their superiors would protect them, raped those innocent women.
The Somali people should not expect the African Union forces to solve this issue; since they (AMISOM) think because of their sacrifice and recent achievements over Al Shabab, no one should question their conduct.
Somali people everywhere expect the Somali government to take a strong position against the African Union troop’s misconduct on Somali women and commit to finding ways of bringing such criminals to justice and ensure this would not happen again. There should also be some measures to closely monitor the activities of African Union troops at around the internally displaced people’s camps (IDP). There should be Somali intelligence officers that are embedded in African Union bases to ensure such activity does not take place again.
The lasting solution to these kinds of violations however, is to create a strong Somali military and at the same time start working on a plan for African Union troops to exit Somalia completely.
Mohamed A. Hussein
Email:[email protected]
We welcome the submission of all articles for possible publication on WardheerNews.com. WardheerNews will only consider articles sent exclusively. Please email your article today . Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of WardheerNews.
WardheerNew’s tolerance platform is engaging with diversity of opinion, political ideology and self-expression. Tolerance is a necessary ingredient for creativity and civility.Tolerance fuels tenacity and audacity.
WardheerNews waxay tixgelin gaara siinaysaa maqaaladaha sida gaarka ah loogu soo diro ee aan lagu daabicin goobo kale. Maqaalkani wuxuu ka turjumayaa aragtida Qoraaga loomana fasiran karo tan WardheerNews.
Copyright © 2024 WardheerNews, All rights reserved
