20100419
alalam

Human Rights Watch slammed on Monday that Somalia the Shebab group has subjected people in the south of the country to killings, cruel punishments, and repressive social control.

The report said that the insurgents, who control most of the country including the majority of the capital Mogadishu, of "implacable repression and brutality."

The 62-page report, based on more than 70 interviews with victims and witnesses, said punishments including amputations and floggings were regularly meted without due process.

HRW also criticized "indiscriminate attacks" in the capital Mogadishu by the transitional government and the African Union peacekeeping force, saying they often played a counterproductive role in the crisis.

"Alongside abuses in Shebab-controlled areas, all sides are responsible for laws-of-war violations that continue unabated in Mogadishu," Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch said.

"There is no easy, obvious way to solve the crisis in Somalia," she added.

"But outside powers should address abuses by all sides instead of ignoring those committed by their allies," she said

Somalia has been plagued by armed conflict since the collapse of its last government in 1991.