- The Italian public has reacted with disbelief and rage on the desecration and destruction of a colonial cemetery in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, by a militia group. While Italy's government has promised actions, the "barbaric act" again is diminishing international hopes for a peace in Somalia.
Last week, an armed Somali militia took control of the Italian cemetery of Mogadishu and unearthed its human remains from colonial times. The looters emptied some 700 graves, dumping the remains outside the graveyard. Most of the grave belonged to Italian expatriates from the post-1960 colonial period.
The Rome government expressed its outrage already on Thursday last week protested these "deplorable acts of devastation" at the Italian cemetery. Francesco Lanata, the Italian Ambassador to Somalia, met with the Somali government, still residing in Kenya, to presents Rome's protests.
Ambassador Lanata in Nairobi met with Somalia's transitional Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Ghedi and President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed. Somali Prime Minister Ghedi expressed "the profound consternation of all Somalis in the face of this inhuman profanity, which offends and wounds not only Italians but also the deep bonds of friendship between the two peoples."
The Somali Prime Minister also announced that he was on his way to Mogadishu, leading a delegation from the new government and parliament, and that he would personally see to it that order was restored in the Italian cemetery there. In the meantime, Somalia's Minister for the Interior was to "see to it that these acts of vandalism are not repeated," according to Italy's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Obviously nervous by the large amount of international attention surrounding the vandalising, the Somali militia group this week declared that a mosque was to be built on the cemetery's site. The militia claimed to be acting in accordance with Islamic courts in the Somali capital, but this has been forcefully denied by Muslim clerics in the city.
According to Mogadishu sources, the militia group is nothing else than an armed group of lawless youngsters without any local support. The group was said to be speculating in the increasing land prices in the Somali capital before the return of a national government, but had not expected the large negative attention.
After the Italian government called the vandalism a "barbaric act", Mogadishu citizens have shown their solidarity with the former colonial power and protested the desecration of the cemetery. The militia has learnt that it has no support among the local population.
Also in Italy, the public has been scandalised by the incident. The Italian government today announced that it was going to act on the vandalism. Rome was considering sending a mission to Mogadishu to search for the human remains and transport them back home to Italy.
Meanwhile, the incident has awoken bad memories from earlier international engagements in Somalia. The disrespect demonstrated on the Italian cemetery is raising concerns about how possible future peacekeeping troops - which the African Union is considering to send - will be treated by radical Somali militias.
While the Somali peace negotiations in Kenya last year ended up in the establishment of a transitional government, the security situation in Somalia has not improved. The Somali government still cites security reasons for not wanting to return to Mogadishu and new inter-clan fighting is reported from Somalia at an increasing frequency.
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