afrol News, 6 May - A new report published by Amnesty International has accused Ethiopian troops of increasingly committing "throat-slitting executions" in Somalia.

The rights group blamed all parties to the conflict - the government, Ethiopian forces and Islamist militia - of carrying out civilian deaths, although it raised alarm over the "increasing incidence" of brutal executions by Ethiopian forces.

"The people of Somalia are being killed, raped, tortured; looting is widespread and entire neighbourhoods are being destroyed," Amnesty's Africa Programme Deputy Director, Michelle Kagari, said in a statement.

The new report relied on several interviews conducted by Amnesty staff in Somalia to back allegations against Ethiopian forces.

In the report, a 15-year-old Barni said upon return from school, she had found her father's throat cut. This incident followed an operation by Ethiopian forces.

Also also 63-year-old Ceeblaa from Mogadishu's district of Wardhigley reported the killing of three men being rounded by Ethiopian forces in her neighbourhood, only to see their bodies lying on the street the following morning.

"One was strangled with electrical wire. The second had his throat cut. The third had been chained ankle to wrist, and his testicles had been smashed," the report said.

Human rights groups had recently punched Ethiopian forces for killing 21 people inside a Mogadishu on 19 April. Seven of those killed had their throats slit. The Ethiopian government rubbished the allegations.

Ethiopian forces were sent to help the transitional federal government of President Abdullahi Yusuf to dislodge the Islamic Courts Union from power in December 2006. Until their defeat, the Islamists ruled large parts of Somalia for six months.

But the defeat of the Islamists turned into rising insurgency, resulting to the killing of at least 6,000 civilians and fleeing of tens of thousands from the capital in 2007.

Somalia had been without a proper functioning government since the overthrow of the country's dictator, Mohamed Siad Barre, in 1991.

By staff writer

© afrol News

Related pages and feature

Current afrol News Top Stories