19/02/09 (B486) Shabelle / M. OULD l’envoyé spécial de l’ONU pour la Somalie s’étonne que les criminels de guerre ne soient pas poursuivis devant une cour pénale internationale spécifique. Envoy calls for ICC probe on Somalia (En Anglais)
UN special representative for Somalia wonders why the Somali conflict was not being treated like other conflicts such as Congo, where suspects have been sent to the Hague for trial.
There is a need to set up an international commission to address killings carried out by Somalis against their fellow countrymen, says a UN special representative for Somalia.
Such an initiative, says Mr Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, would overcome the conspiracy of silence currently evident over a country that has known no peace for close to two decades.
The Security Council needs to adopt a resolution allowing the International Criminal Court (ICC) to handle impunity or war crimes committed by Somalis against Somalis. The conspiracy of silence over Somalia must end, you cannot just main, kill and torture and get away with it. »
Speaking at his office in Nairobi, Mr Abdallah wondered why the Somali conflict was not being treated like other conflicts such as Congo, where suspects have been sent to the Hague for trial.
He said the international community is treating the Somali conflict as if it is tired of it ».
Somalia is defying logic and the international community is defying the conflict and conducting studies instead of looking for a solution, » he added.
Mr Abdallah, who is the UN’s top diplomat on Somalia, wondered why a country that has been in conflict for 18 years was still considered as a humanitarian crisis. He said Somalia’s problems were political and the country was a major threat to its neighbours in terms of refugees, denied trade opportunities and a security problem as seen in the cases of piracy along its coast.
He said: Piracy is not just affecting ships, it also increases prices (of commodities) and is also a potential environmental hazard if any of the ships such as the Saudi tanker, » was to be blown up by the pirates.(Daily Nation)