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ICRC appeals to Somalia's warring parties to spare hospitals
Written by: Frank Nyakairu
Residents prepare to transport the bodies of dead civilians for burial following a mortar attack in Mogadishu September 12, 2009. Shells fired towards Mogadishu's port killed at least 9 disabled people and wounded 19 on Friday evening in the latest in a string of mortar attacks by insurgents, witnesses and rights activists said on Saturday. REUTERS/Feisal Omar
NAIROBI (AlertNet) - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned parties in Somalia's conflict against targeting health facilities four days after mortars landed on a hospital in the capital killing nine people and wounding 19. Shells fired towards Mogadishu's port on Friday, missed their target and landed on Martini hospital, witnesses and rights activists said. It was the latest in a string of mortar attacks by insurgents fighting the U.N.-backed interim government. "Although nothing suggests that Martini Hospital was deliberately targeted, (ICRC) and the Somali Red Crescent remind all parties to the conflict of their obligation to spare medical staff and hospitals," ICRC said in a statement. Martini hospital in the shell-shattered coastal city was housing members of Somali forces disabled during a war with Ethiopia in 1977. Violence has killed more than 18,000 Somalis since the start of 2007 and displaced another 1.5 million. Hardline insurgents who want to impose their own strict version of sharia law have been battling the country's Western-backed governments. "Violence remains a feature of everyday life for many Somalis, especially those living in Mogadishu, as armed conflict and a lack of respect for human life continue to affect the population on a daily basis," said Benjamin Wahren, the ICRC's deputy head of operations for the Horn of Africa. Since January ICRC said it has treated around 3,700 war-wounded patients, including over 350 children and nearly 600 women in their Keysaney and Medina hospitals in Mogadishu. Somalia's administration is facing a stubborn insurgency by Islamist rebels including foreign militants who Western security agencies say use the Horn of Africa nation as a safe haven to plot attacks in the region and beyond.
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