SOMALIA:All sides have committed human rights abuses during clashes in Somalia's battered capital, Mogadishu this year, according to a report published yesterday.
In its findings, Human Rights Watch says Ethiopian soldiers have been responsible for the worst outrages, attacking civilian targets and looting hospitals.
It also accuses insurgents of firing mortars into residential areas and executing civilians.
Meanwhile, the United Nations' Security Council began discussing the war-torn Horn of Africa nation yesterday as it prepares to draft a resolution backing a further six-month deployment of African Union peacekeepers.
However, two battalions of Ugandan troops have so far had little impact on an insurgency led by hardline elements of Somalia's ousted Islamic Courts movement.
Yesterday's report underlined the need for urgent action to protect Mogadishu's population.
The Human Rights Watch report concluded: "None of the parties has taken - as international law requires - all feasible precautions to spare the civilian population from the attacks." It saved its most trenchant criticism for Ethiopian forces sent to bolster Somalia's feeble government.
"There is strong evidence that the indiscriminate bombardment of populated neighbourhoods by Ethiopian forces was intentional," said the 113-page dossier.
"Commanders who knowingly or recklessly order indiscriminate attacks are responsible for war crimes." Ken Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, called on the UN to use its power to force Ethiopia and Somalia to end the abuses.
"The warring parties have all shown criminal disregard for the wellbeing of the civilian population of Mogadishu," he said.
"The UN Security Council's indifference to this crisis has only added to the tragedy." The Ethiopian and Somali governments deny any abuses. Addis Ababa said the report was propaganda for Islamist radicals which distorted Ethiopia's beneficial role in supporting Somalia's interim government.
Bereket Simon, special adviser to prime minister Meles Zenawi, said: "As usual, Human Rights Watch is engaged in its now well-known fabrication, and in misinforming the world in unsubstantiated fairytales."
Mogadishu has returned to business as usual since the Union of Islamic Courts was defeated at the end of last year.
Six months of relative stability has been replaced by intensified fighting.
Since the end of the April offensive, insurgents have continued to stage attacks on an almost daily basis.
Over the weekend, two prominent journalists were killed.