U.N. rights boss sees possible war crimes in Somalia

GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations human rights chief said Friday both sides in Somalia's conflict are committing attacks and using torture against civilians, which may amount to war crimes.
Islamist insurgents are executing civilians, planting mines and bombs in residential areas and using torture while their tribunals hand down death sentences by stoning and decapitation, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said.
Pro-government forces are also said to have committed grave violations, including firing mortars on residential areas and using torture, she said in a statement.
Civilians, especially women and children, are bearing the brunt of the latest violence in the Horn of Africa country, Pillay said as government troops sought to drive insurgents from their bases in the capital Mogadishu.
"Witnesses have told U.N. investigators that the so-called al Shabaab groups fighting to topple the transitional government have carried out extrajudicial executions, planted mines, bombs and other explosive devices in civilian areas and used civilians as human shields," Pillay said.
"Fighters from both sides are reported to have used torture and fired mortars indiscriminately into areas populated or frequented by civilians," she said. "Some of these acts might amount to war crimes."
Al Qaeda-linked fighters in al Shabaab control much of southern and central Somalia and all but a few blocks of the capital. Western powers fear that if the Somali government is overthrown, the country will become a safe haven for al Qaeda training camps and that militants will destabilize the region.
'DEVASTATING CONSEQUENCES'
Concerns are also increasing about living conditions inside the country, where aid agencies are struggling to reach needy people including more than 200,000 who have fled the capital.
"During the past week, heavy fighting in Mogadishu continued with devastating consequences for the civilian population and limited access for humanitarian agencies," the U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA said in its latest weekly bulletin issued Friday...more..http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE5691ZP20090710?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews