EU 'complicit in Somali war crimes'

A senior European Union security official has warned the head of the EU delegation for Somalia that Ethiopian and Somali military forces there may have committed war crimes and that donor countries could be considered complicit if they do nothing to stop them.

The warning was made in an urgent e-mail to Eric van der Linden, the chief EU official for Kenya and Somalia.

"I need to advise you that there are strong grounds to believe that the Ethiopian government and the transitional federal government of Somalia and the African Union (peacekeeping) Force Commander, possibly also including the African Union Head of Mission and other African Union officials have through commission or omission violated the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court," the e-mail said.

EU officials, speaking on condition they not be named because a legal matter was involved, confirmed the e-mail's authenticity and said the author's reputation and position meant it was being taken very seriously.

In the Somali capital, Mogadishu, residents were still burying bodies from last week's fighting, which aid organizations said was the worst in 15 years, killing hundreds of people killed. A fragile five day cease-fire was still holding but residents were still fleeing, fearing new clashes between Somali government forces, their Ethiopian backers and Islamic insurgents.

The e-mail's author, whose name was blanked out on the copy obtained by The Associated Press but whose senior position was apparent from the text, went on to detail the exact statutes that were violated. They included intentionally directing attacks against civilians and ordering the displacement of civilians for reasons related to the conflict.

"In regard to the abovementioned potential violations of international law there arise urgent questions of responsibility and potential complicity in the commission of war crimes by the European Commission and its partners," the e-mail said. The European Commission has been a major financial backer of the Somali government and the African Union peacekeeping mission, which is currently made up of only Ugandan troops.

The e-mail was sent on Monday, following four days of the heaviest fighting in Somalia in 15 years. The day after it was written, the European Union issued a statement calling for an end to the fighting.

"We are deeply concerned about the humanitarian impact of the conflict in Mogadishu and the indiscriminate shelling of heavily populated areas," the EU said Tuesday. A statement condemning potential war crimes can be considered under international law as mitigation against accusations of complicity.

Richard Hands, deputy head of delegation for the EU in Kenya and Somalia, said the e-mail was a routine review of the potential for war crimes in conflict areas where the EU is working.

"These allegations are, of course, taken seriously and we are looking into it," he said. "The European Union takes international humanitarian law very seriously and are always aware in situations where it is working."

The priority in Somalia is reconciliation that is inclusive and genuine, he added.

Somali officials were unreachable for comment.

The EU was shortly expected to release ¤15 million (US$20 million) for the African peacekeeping force, but the e-mail and could lead to the suspension of the money, a Western diplomat said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The United States is also a major financial supporter of the Somali government and the peacekeepers, pledging more than US$120 million (¤90 million).

Solomon Abebe, spokesman for the Ethiopian ministry of foreign affairs called the allegations a "fabrication."

"The international community, everybody knows that this is false," he said.

But European diplomats said they were concerned.

"We are looking at this from a legal point of view at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Stockholm," said Jens Orlander, the Swedish special envoy for Somalia based in Nairobi.

The European Union has no mechanism for investigating and prosecuting war crimes in Somalia, that would fall on the International Criminal Court.

One Somali human rights group, which asked not to be identified for fear of retribution, said it was gathering evidence of war crimes in Somalia for submission to the International Criminal Court for possible future prosecutions.

Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf and his cabinet ministers have repeatedly called for civilians to leave their homes because insurgents have fired mortars at Ethiopian and government troops from densely populated neighborhoods.

The UN refugee agency says some 124,000 people have fled Mogadishu since the beginning of February, including 11,000 in the past six days.

New York-based Human Rights Watch called Friday for all sides to end indiscriminate attacks against civilians.

"Civilians in Mogadishu are paying an intolerable price for the failure of all sides to abide by the rules of warfare," said Georgette Gagnon, deputy Africa director of Human Rights Watch.