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Map 1: Mogadishu: Insurgent attacks through mid-March 2007
Map 2: Mogadishu: Ethiopian offensives in March and April 2007
I. Summary
II. Key Recommendations
To the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia (TFG)
To the groups comprising the insurgency
To the government of Ethiopia
To the European Union and its member states, the European Commission, the United Nations Security Council, the African Union, the Arab League, and the government of the United States
III. Background
The Fall of the Barre Regime and the Outbreak of Clan Fighting
Successive Failed Peace Processes: 19912004
The Ethiopian Factor
The Rise of the Islamic Courts in 2006
Peace Talks Fail: JuneDecember 2006
The Fall of the Islamic Courts
IV. Mogadishu Under Siege: JanuaryApril 2007
Hurtling Toward Conflict
V. International Humanitarian Law and the Armed Conflict in Somalia
VI. Patterns of Abuses by Parties to the Conflict in Mogadishu
Indiscriminate or Disproportionate Attacks
Deployment in Populated Areas
Attacks on Medical Facilities
Intentional Shootings and Summary Executions of Civilians
Deliberate Killings of Civilians and Mutilation of Captured Combatants
Abuses of Civilians by the Transitional Somali Government
VII. A Case Study in Laws of War Violations: The MarchApril Offensives
The first Ethiopian offensive: the battle for Mogadishu Stadium, March 29April 1
The second Ethiopian offensive: the battle for the Pasta Factory, April 1826
The civilian victims of the March-April indiscriminate rocket barrages and shelling
VIII. Displacement by the Fighting
Displacement within Mogadishu
Treatment of Displaced People Fleeing Mogadishu
IX. Applying International Humanitarian Law to the Conflict in Somalia
A. Applicable International Law
B. Protections for Civilians and Civilian Objects
C. Violations of International Humanitarian Law by the Parties to the Conflict in Mogadishu
X. Recommendations
To the participants in the National Reconciliation Conference and representatives of civil society
To the European Union and its member states, the European Commission, the government of the United States, the African Union, and the Arab League
To the government of the United States
To the African Union
To the United Nations
XI. Methodology
XII. Acknowledgements
August 2007 Volume 19, No. 12(A)