{"id":45127,"date":"2023-12-19T11:11:02","date_gmt":"2023-12-19T19:11:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=45127"},"modified":"2023-12-19T11:11:02","modified_gmt":"2023-12-19T19:11:02","slug":"groups-demand-us-make-long-overdue-amends-for-airstrikes-in-somalia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2023\/12\/19\/groups-demand-us-make-long-overdue-amends-for-airstrikes-in-somalia\/","title":{"rendered":"Groups Demand US ‘Make Long-Overdue Amends’ for Airstrikes in Somalia"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Two dozen Somali and international human rights groups on Monday asked the Pentagon to “take immediate steps to address the requests of families whose loved ones were killed or injured by U.S. airstrikes in Somalia” \u2013 people who often say they’re being ignored by American officials.<\/p>\n

In a letter<\/a> to U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, the groups cite recent Intercept<\/em> reporting<\/a> that “illustrates how in multiple cases of civilian harm in Somalia confirmed by the U.S. government, civilian victims, survivors, and their families have yet to receive answers, acknowledgment, and amends despite their sustained efforts to reach authorities over several years.”<\/p>\n

The letter highlights victims including Luul Dahir Mohamed, a 22-year-old Somali woman who was killed along with her 4-year-old daughter Mariam Shilow Muse in an April 2018 U.S. drone strike in El Buur. Luul’s brother Abubakar Dahir Mohamed said that despite confirming their deaths and admitting they were civilians, the U.S. military has yet to provide the family with a “substantive reply.”<\/p>\n

“Since the strike, our family has been broken apart. It has been more than five years since it happened, but we have not been able to move on,” Abubakar Dahir Mohamed wrote in an opinion piece<\/a> published last week by The Continent<\/em>. “Even as we have contacted [the U.S. government] in every way we know how, we have never been able to even start a process of getting justice. The U.S. has never even acknowledged our existence.”<\/p>\n

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The US is failing to fulfill its commitments in responding appropriately to civilian harm.<\/p>\n

Families of civilians killed in US airstrikes in Somalia have yet to receive answers, acknowledgement, and amends despite their sustained efforts to reach authorities over several years. https:\/\/t.co\/m3wAS6RVpB<\/a><\/p>\n

— Hajer Naili (@H_NAILI) December 18, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n