SOMALIA: Impunity “the root cause of crisis”

from IRIN

A culture of impunity is the root cause of Somalia's humanitarian and political crisis and unless the world urgently addresses it, war crimes and crimes against humanity will continue unabated, a civil society activist has told IRIN.

"No one has ever been held accountable for these crimes," Marian Hussein Awreeye, chairwoman of the Isma'il Jimale Human Rights Centre, said. "If they had charged even one warlord, it would have been an example and would have discouraged would-be warlords from committing atrocities."

Over 17 years, she said, hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced inside and outside the country, while thousands have been killed.

Read on