Government must charge war criminals

Toronto – the Somali Canadian Diaspora Alliance emphatically calls upon the Canadian government and all human rights groups to denounce the approximately 18 Somali Canadians who are members of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia (TFG), a government which is complicit in committing atrocities against their own people. These 18 individuals, after participating in what some commentators decree are war crimes in Somalia, return to Canada to enjoy peace, stability and a safety haven away from the violence.

In a report commissioned and released by Human Rights Watch in August 2007, titled Shell-Schocked: Civilians under siege in Mogadishu, the TFG is accused of looting property, impeding relief efforts for displaced people, conducting mass arrests, and allowing Ethopian military forces to indiscriminately bombard heavily populated areas of Mogadishu with artillery, loot hopsitals, and deliberately shooting and executing non-combatants.

“These people are involved in the killing, torture and displacements of our families”, said Abdirizak Omar Mohamed, Vice-Chair of Somali Canadian Diaspora Alliance. “Canadians citizens who are involved in human rights abuse, crime against civilians and other form of criminal complicity have to face Canadian Criminal Law and need to be judged and punished accordingly in Canada”, claimed Fadumo Awow Mohamed, Chair of Somali Canadian Diaspora Alliance.

We request that the Canadian government investigate these 18 Somali Canadians and their roles in the escalating conflict in Somalia. We also call upon all members of the Canadian parliament to refuse to associate with these individuals who have committed war crimes and will continue in their siege of death and destruction in Somalia.

Chair of Somali Canadian Diaspora Alliance