According to the latest UN figures, at least 613 civilians have been killed and 948 injured this year – the highest number since 2017 and an increase of nearly a third from 2021.
Most of the casualties, 315 dead and 686 injured, were caused by Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), nearly all of them by Al-Shabaab extremists. Some of the casualties were attributed to Government security forces, “clan militias and other unidentified actors”, according to the United Nations rights office, OHCHR.
Worrying increase
High Commissioner Volker Türk, said that 2022 had “put an abrupt end to the overall decline in the number of deaths and injuries recorded since 2017”, adding that he was “deeply concerned that there is a growing many Somalis continue to lose their lives.”
“All parties to a conflict must abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law and ensure that civilians are protected. This also includes armed elements joining the Government in the conflict against Al-Shabaab, as well as international forces.”
The UN rights chief urged the Government to “take all necessary steps” along with those already invested in stability across Somalia in the international community, to strengthen protections for all. civilians, “in accordance with international human rights norms and standards as well as international humanitarian law”.
suicide bombing
The longstanding Islamic insurgency also continues to use suicide bombings as part of its terror campaign, most recently on October 29 near the Ministry of Education in the capital Mogadishu.
At least 121 people were killed and 333 injured, according to the Somali health ministry, most of them civilians.
An earlier attack by Al-Shabaab on Mogadishu’s Hayat hotel on August 21 killed at least 22 civilians and wounded 30.
Poisoning the well
Besides intentionally targeting civilians, the latest information gathered by OHCHR shows that Al-Shabaab has destroyed many water wells and committed at least one poisoning of water wells in the Hiraan region, at the time. Somalis are facing extreme hardship due to widespread drought in many parts of the country, threatening hundreds of thousands of people with famine.
The terrorist group also destroyed part of the Shabelle riverbank, houses, a bridge, disabled telecommunications antennas and 11 school buildings.
“Such indiscriminate destruction is deplorable, especially in difficult humanitarian circumstances, with successive failures of five rainy seasons and large-scale displacement of the country,” said Mr. Türk. Turk said.
War crimes must end
“The deliberate targeting of civilians and the destruction, as such, of objects indispensable to civilians, constitutes a war crime under international law. They have to stop.”
The rights chief also stressed the critical need for accountability for serious violations of international law, saying it is key to any serious effort to end the cycle. Vicious violence spans decades across Somalia.
