MOGADISHU: Al Shabab gunmen killed at least seven people in an attack on Tuesday at a hotel in a central Somali town where local elders and government officials were meeting to discuss how to act against the Islamist militant group, an elder said.
The Al-Qaeda-linked group claimed responsibility for the attack in Beledweyne and said it had killed over 10 people. The attackers forced their way in by setting off explosives at the entrance, said a witness, shopkeeper Ali Suleiman.
Al Shabab frequently launches bombings and gun attacks in the fragile Horn of Africa nation as it tries to topple the government and establish its own rule based on its strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.
“So far seven people, including clan elders and their guards, all of them my relatives, died in the hotel. Parts of the hotel are ablaze now and it is not clear if the operation is concluded or not,” clan elder Abdullahi Fidow told Reuters.
“Some say the fighters are still fighting in nearby buildings. The death toll may rise because of the blasts and shooting by the fighters,” he said.
Hours after the initial attack, government forces were trying to flush out Al Shabab fighters, some of whom had been killed in nearby alleys, said Dahir Amin Jesow, a federal lawmaker from the town, the capital of Hiraan region.
In a separate incident, at least 10 people, including eight Al Shabab fighters, were killed in fighting in a village in the Middle Shabelle region in southern Somalia, Ali Farah, a military officer in the village, told Reuters.
State-owned Somali National News Agency reported that President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was at the airport in Mogadishu to receive the soldiers wounded in the fighting.
Al Shabab gunmen attack hotel in central Somalia, seven dead
https://arab.news/4ncpz
Al Shabab gunmen attack hotel in central Somalia, seven dead
- Hours after the initial attack, government forces were trying to flush out Al Shabab fighters, some of whom had been killed in nearby alleys, said Dahir Amin Jesow, a federal lawmaker from the town, the capital of Hiraan region
UN’s top court opens Myanmar Rohingya genocide case
- The Gambia filed a case against Myanmar at the UN’s top court in 2019
- Verdict expected to impact Israel’s genocide case over war on Gaza
DHAKA: The International Court of Justice on Monday opened a landmark case accusing Myanmar of genocide against its mostly Muslim Rohingya minority.
The Gambia filed a case against Myanmar at the UN’s top court in 2019, two years after a military offensive forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya from their homes into neighboring Bangladesh.
The hearings will last three weeks and conclude on Jan. 29.
“The ICJ must secure justice for the persecuted Rohingya. This process should not take much longer, as we all know that justice delayed is justice denied,” said Asma Begum, who has been living in the Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district since 2017.
A mostly Muslim ethnic minority, the Rohingya have lived for centuries in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state but were stripped of their citizenship in the 1980s and have faced systemic persecution ever since.
In 2017 alone, some 750,000 of them fled military atrocities and crossed to Bangladesh, in what the UN has called a textbook case of ethnic cleansing by Myanmar.
Today, about 1.3 million Rohingya shelter in 33 camps in Cox’s Bazar, turning the coastal district into the world’s largest refugee settlement.
“We experienced horrific acts such as arson, killings and rape in 2017, and fled to Bangladesh,” Begum told Arab News.
“I believe the ICJ verdict will pave the way for our repatriation to our homeland. The world should not forget us.”
A UN fact-finding mission has concluded that the Myanmar 2017 offensive included “genocidal acts” — an accusation rejected by Myanmar, which said it was a “clearance operation” against militants.
Now, there is hope for justice and a new future for those who have been displaced for years.
“We also have the right to live with dignity. I want to return to my homeland and live the rest of my life in my ancestral land. My children will reconnect with their roots and be able to build their own future,” said Syed Ahmed, who fled Myanmar in 2017 and has since been raising his four children in the Kutupalong camp.
“Despite the delay, I am optimistic that the perpetrators will be held accountable through the ICJ verdict. It will set a strong precedent for the world.”
The Myanmar trial is the first genocide case in more than a decade to be taken up by the ICJ. The outcome will also impact the genocide case that Israel is facing over its war on Gaza.
“The momentum of this case at the ICJ will send a strong message to all those (places) around the world where crimes against humanity have been committed,” Nur Khan, a Bangladeshi lawyer and human rights activist, told Arab News.
“The ICJ will play a significant role in ensuring justice regarding accusations of genocide in other parts of the world, such as the genocide and crimes against humanity committed by Israel against the people of Gaza.”
