WESTERN DONORS need to rethink their strategy on Somalia or risk fuelling insecurity, conflict and war crimes, according to a hard-hitting report published yesterday by Human Rights Watch.
"The combatants in Somalia have inflicted more harm on civilians than on each other," said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch.
"There are no quick fixes in Somalia, but foreign governments need to stop adding fuel to the fire with misguided policies that empower human rights abusers."
The watchdog singled out policies adopted by the United States which it said had exacerbated the threat of Islamist militants and urged president-elect Barack Obama to pursue a fresh course.
It accused Somali security services - some funded with European Union aid money in an attempt to build stability - Ethiopian troops and allied militia of indiscriminately shelling residential areas, torturing, killing, raping civilians and looting.
On the other side, Islamist rebels have fired on residential areas and markets, launched attacks from high-population districts, and punished suspected collaborators.
The country has been mired in anarchy since 1991. The latest round of fighting erupted two years ago when US-backed Ethiopian forces invaded Somalia to oust a coalition of Islamic courts.
Since then the Islamists have regrouped and retaken swathes of a broken, drought-ridden land.
Pirates control the seas.
"The United States, treating Somalia primarily as a battlefield in the global war on terror, has pursued a policy of uncritical support for [Somali] transitional government and Ethiopian actions, and the resulting lack of accountability has fuelled the worst abuses," noted the report.
"There is strong evidence that US policies in Somalia have aggravated the very concerns about terrorism they seek to address . . . The aftermath of US airstrikes have left a more lasting impression in the minds of many Somalis than US funding for humanitarian assistance."
Campaigners also called on the UN to end its support for a national police service which is accused of numerous cases of rape, looting and indiscriminate arrest.