- Title: [SW Country] The Genocide File (pages3 & 4) - Genocide in
Mogadisho - by Concerned Somalis - Washington DC, March 1991
- Posted by/on: [AAJ][22 Jan 2000]
Somalia Watch will serialize under The Genocide File the documented acts of
Genocide and other serious human Rights abuses committed to the Somali people
in the last 20-30 years. The documents we use shall be authentic to the best of our
knowledge and will give sources and references whenever possible.
We also invite the contribution of our readers to the efforts of exposing the truth.
Anyone with a genuine story to tell about the subject matter is welcome to send his/her
contribution to Somalia Watch. We shall use all the stories judged to be genuine.
Names of the contributors shall not be used unless SW is instructed otherwise.
Management - SW Jan 01
The Genocide
File
Genocide
in Mogadisho
by Concerned
Somalis - Washington DC, March 1991
Brief
This document was released by a group calling itself Concerned Somalis in Washington DC in March 1991 in a
protest against a genocide committed in Mogadisho. The release describes acts and lists
victims of genocide committed in Mogadishu. It also lists some of the alleged perpetrators
of the genocide.
Genocide in Mogadisho
(Mogadisho after the ouster of Barre's
dictatorship)
Concerned Somalis
March 11 1991, Washington, D.C.
Mogadisho was the capital of Somalia, a country
that for 21 years endured atrocities and bloodshed under the dictatorship of Siyad Barre.
By 1990, Siyad Barre lost control of all the regions and basically became the "Mayor
of Mogadisho'. In December 1990, the United Somali Congress ( USC), an armed opposition
group formed in 1989, infiltrated Mogadisho and brought the civil war to the capital. In
the ensuing battle for the capital, Siyad Barre's regime indiscriminately bombarded the
city with heavy artillery and ground to ground missiles, leading to heavy civilian
casualties and total destruction of parts of the city. Somalia became totally isolated
from the rest of the world community after all forms of communication systems with the
outside world were cut and all the personnel of the embassies and aid agencies were
evacuated out of Somalia.
The exclusively Hawiye USC armed militia succeeded in ousting the
ruthless dictator from Mogadisho and in January 1991, Siyad Barre fled to Garbaharey, an
area inhabited mostly by Barre's clan of Marehan (a Darood subclan). From the smothering
ruins of Mogadisho, a new era of terror began for the non-Hawiye civilians especially for
the Darood clan members. The USC militia started consolidating power in Mogadisho leading
to exodus of non-Hawiye residents from Mogadisho to the southern towns of Somalia. Eye
witnesses reported house to house mopping up operations by the USO militia. The militia
combed the city looting and killing innocent civilians if they are identified as a
non-Hawiye Irrespective of their previous opposition to the regime of Siyad Barre.
In recent reports, individuals who infiltrated Mogadisho under disguise
and visited the residence of some Darood individuals confirmed systematic killings of
Darood civilians. They reported that Mogadisho has been divided into 8 sections and each
section was assigned to a subclan of the Hawiye. The division of Mogadisho into 8 gang
like sections from the previous sub-divisions of five followed after number of Hawiye sub
clans' militia who have not been given piece of the pie", engaged in turf skirmishes.
The non- Hawiye civilians are subjects of these neighborhood gangs and
are unable to protect or vie for themselves. Thousands of non-Hawiye civilians who
fortunately survived Barre's indiscriminate shelling were murdered by the USO militia In a
mopping up operation In Mogadisho. The Darood civilians ln 'particular are either executed
on the spot or taken to courts in which the likes of Jillacow reside over. Jillacow headed
Siyad Barre's most hated Security Police (N.S.S.) in the Benadir region and was nicknamed
In the 1970s as the "Night-Stalker.0 It is Ironic that Jillacow today decides the
fate of the Majerten ( Darood subclan) residents of Mogadisho whom he terrorized in the
1970s and 1980s' His sole merit for being In USC leadership in Mogadisho today is being
born into the Hawiye clan, which seemed to have cleansed him of all the previous crimes he
committed against humanity under Barre's dictatorship for 21 long years.
In addition, the non-Hawiye civilians who have not been executed have
been reported to be holed up in the homes of Hawiye families who have been long time
residents of Mogadisho. These families who are either direct relatives ( i.e. maternal
relatives) or affiliated through marriage, endanger their own lives by providing
sanctuaries for the hunted families. In one specific reported case, the house of a Darood
family was protected 24 hours by a son-in-law and his brothers, who are armed to the
teeth. Despite the good intentions by Hawiye elders some of which would like to see a
peaceful city, the true rulers of Mogadisho are ruthless armed Hawiye militia. It has also
been reported that Inter clan killings between the Hawiye militia occur daily.
Further leaks from Mogadisho contend that some of the non-Hawiye
families have been collected and housed in the old Fair-grounds in Mogadisho. It is not
clear if they are hostages or refugees, since some of them have been abducted from towns
outside the Benadir region.
The individuals who infiltrated Mogadisho compiled a list of Darood
elders, intellectuals and prominent leaders who have been murdered by the USC ( see
Attachment A). The people who have been executed in Mogadisho by the USC militia have been
estimated to be in the thousands, and the attached document is not comprehensive. This
document is the tip of the iceberg. USC has embarked on a campaign to liquidate the most
productive manpower of the Darood family clan. Few non-Hawiye professionals who have been
fortunate enough to have escaped Mogadisho a week ago, recount living through a month of
nightmare. According to the escapees, USC death squads have been given a list of well
known non-Hawiye professionals and elders who have been selected for extermination for no
other reason than being born into non-Hawiye clans. In the attached document, more than
100 of the elders and intellectuals executed by the USC are the Majerten clan (Darood
subclan) who have been the first group Siyad Barre targeted in his brutal repression. The
majority of the members of the first armed opposition against Siyad Barre, the Somali
Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF started in 1978) were Majerten and the Barre regime had
brutally repressed popular uprising in the regions of Mudug and Bar! where the Majerten
clan predominantly live. Others murdered by the USC, include an American educated
professor, Ibrahim Mohamed Abyan of the Dulbahante clan (a Darood subclan) who was member
of the Manifesto core group of 46. Abyan was an intellectual who opposed the Barre regime
but had the foresight to select peaceful transition to a democratic society.
From all indications, things are chaotic and out of control and the
radical extreme elements have the upper hand in the USC leadership in Mogadisho. The USC
had sabotaged the hopes of all Somalis for a democratic country with all the rights
entailed in a democratic institution. Most Somalis envisioned a rule of the law and not
another rule of the gun. In a multi-clan society, a militia mobilized along clan lines,
financed along clan -lines, armed along clan lines and ruled along clan lines can never be
elevated to represent all sectors of the society. Hence, USC can not be elevated to a
national level and it has shown itself to be nothing other than a Hawiye militia. The USC
leadership on the other hand sought to couple the economic power attained through the 21
years of collaboration with the corrupt dictatorship of Siyad Barre with political
empowerment.
The USC leadership in their quest 'for political empowerment, summoned
a new era of indiscriminate Darood genocide while providing a haven for Siyad Barre's
Hawiye top officials. In fact, over thirty of Barre regime's top officials are in the
among USC's leadership in Mogadisho. Hussein Kulmiye Afrax, Siyad Barre's right hand man
and Vice-President through out regime's tenure, today remains as the principle leader of
the USC in Mogadisho. In contrast, the wives and the children of poor non-Hawiye janitors
have to run for their lives. As a result of hideous policy of extermination adopted by the
USC, they have created an unprecedented collapse of Somali nationalism and initiated a new
era of inter clan war in the south and center of Somalia.
We appeal to all peace loving members of
the world community, non- profit agencies, and countries to undertake an comprehensive
action to save guard the lives of the non-Hawiye residence of Mogadisho. The USC
leadership can be pressured to release all non-Hawiye civilians who have virtually become
hostages. If things deteriorates further, it is highly possible that not a single
non-Hawiye resident in Mogadisho would be alive. A timely negotiation and evacuation can
save the lives of thousands of people. This idea may seem far fetched, but the USC militia
depends on the NGO's for emergency assistance and some pressure on USC can yield a
productive result. Silence would only allow USC to succeed in its inhumane campaign
against the innocent Somali civilians.
We also urge all human rights organizations such as Amnesty
International, and Africa Watch to investigate into these atrocities being committed
against the innocent Somali civilians. The USC leadership abroad has chosen to consider
the civilians dispensable for the sake of legitimacy and hunger for power. If the
atrocities are widely publicized, these USC leadership might be forced to take a more
corrective actions.
We appeal to all countries and aid agencies to assist the thousands of
refugees who lost their homes, assets and loved ones to the USC and are today either
living in camps in Kenya or living in besieged over crowded towns such as Kismayo that are
being continuously attacked by the USC.
We also implore the world community to send food, doctors and medicine
to the central towns such as Gal kayo ( in the Mudug region), where the USC recently
attacked and slaughtered over 300 families mostly women and children at 3:00 AM on
February 26. It is ironic, that USC had not yet attacked Siyad Barre's strong hold in
Garbaharey, while attacking the Mudug region that revolted against the Barre regime 14
years ago and had managed to oust Siyad Barre's regime out of the region prior to the
formation of the USC in 1989.
We request from the UNHCR to negotiate for the safety of the thousands
of Somali and Ethiopian refugees who fled to Somalia during the 1977 Ethio-Somali war and
lived in the United Nation administered camps. It has been reported that the refugees in
the Jalalaqsi, Qoryoley and Belet Weyn camps have been attacked and large number of
families have been killed and others were abducted to USC held territories as a human
shield.
We appeal to the Somali community abroad to assist the thousands of
traumatized civilians who were former residence of Mogadisho and have fled to Kenya. These
civilians have suffered under the hands of the Siyad Barre's regime and today have been
hunted down by the USC. In the boat that capsized on the Malindi coast, 700 hundred people
died mostly women and children. Out of the 700, not a single family was Siyad Barre's
collaborator and in fact 90 percent were of the Majerten ( Darood subclan) and Warsangely
( - Darood subclan) clan. In the camps in Kenya and in the coastal city of Kismayo, the
refugees are mostly innocent civilians and Siyad Barre, his cronies, and his hated Red
Berets are in the Garbaharey region. We urge members of the Hawiye clan abroad to condemn
the USC in the same spirit as their relatives in Mogadisho had by providing sanctuary and
safe passage for the innocent non-Hawiye civilians in Mogadisho. The USC leadership has
been usurped by scrupulously individuals and Siyad Barre's cronies, whose interests are
nothing other than propelling themselves into leadership nation wide by the barrel of the
gun. We, the Somali people have already had a taste of the rule of the gun, and should not
let ourselves be sabotaged into supporting the old system minus Siyad Barre himself.
Pictures of the original documents:
page3 genocide in Mogadisho
page 4 genocide in Magadisho
page5 genocide in Mogadisho
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