Two towns braced for urban warfare

Continents apart, the civilian populations of Marjah, a key town in Helmand province, Afghanistan, and Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, are steeling themselves for intense urban warfare.

Major offensives are being planned in both, pitting NATO and Afghan national forces against the Taliban in Marjah, and according to media reports, Somali transitional government troops against Islamist insurgent militia, including Al-Shabab, in Mogadishu.

Civilians in cities at war risk death and injury from accidental or deliberate attack, sexual or other violence, being trapped or used as shields, loss of property and forced displacement. Urban conflict is often more dangerous for civilians than rural, according to a paper commissioned by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The coming battles for Marjah and Mogadishu will test all sides’ ability to conform with humanitarian law and protect civilians.

In Afghanistan, NATO has given strong assurances that it will spare no effort to minimize the impact of military activities on civilian communities. “Our number-one objective is to protect civilians,” Todd Vician, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), told IRIN on 11 February. “[The operation] is about the security of the population, not fighting down insurgent numbers,” Gordon Messenger, a spokesman for British forces in Afghanistan, was quoted as saying in a NATO statement.

NATO and Afghan authorities have warned an assault is imminent - without naming a date. NATO/ISAF has launched an unprecedented media campaign ahead of the offensive; NATO commanders say the aim is to alert Marjah’s civilians to the operation and encourage insurgents to either vacate the area or lay down their arms.

In an email statement on 10 February, the Taliban also gave assurances of civilian protection in Marjah.

“The Mujahideen will not allow the enemy to win the war or cause casualties to the Mujahideen and the public,” their purported spokesman, Qari Yusuf Ahmadi, was quoted as saying.

In Mogadishu, however, there have been no such assurances from Al-Shabab. Only the government has so far publicly pledged to protect civilians in the event of fighting.

"This government is committed to the protection of our people and will respect international law," government spokesman Abdi Haji Gobdon told IRIN on 11 February. "The government will do everything humanly possible to protect the population... government forces are under orders to respect and protect civilians." 

According to Dennis McNamara, an adviser with the Geneva-based NGO Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, a major problem in civilian protection in countries such as Somalia and Afghanistan has been the absence of a credible, international and effective monitoring system to establish the extent and number of civilian casualties.

“This is a big issue that we need to flag; there is a need to have a credible international casualty registry system,” he said. “Moreover, more vigorous effort by peacekeeping troops is required, especially in civilian protection. Overall, international backing and protection [are] required in such conflicts.”

Civilian casualties

In Afghanistan, more than 2,400 civilian casualties were recorded in 2009, up from 2,118 in 2008, according to the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

Of those, civilian deaths resulting from the Taliban’s actions increased by 41 percent in 2009, with roadside bombs and suicide attacks killing 1,054, according to UNAMA.

Civilian deaths attributed to pro-government Afghan and foreign forces were reportedly reduced due to a drop in the use of air strikes, which often produce greater collateral damage than ground operations.

Of 596 civilian deaths attributed to pro-government forces in 2009, 395 were caused by air attacks, according to UNAMA’s report.

To retake Marjah, about 15,000 Afghan and foreign forces are being deployed – a far larger number of ground troops compared with previous operations that relied heavily on air power.

NATO says it will use air support in the Marjah operation but gave assurances it would be proportionate and precise.

“Our troops take additional risks in order to avoid harm to civilians,” said ISAF spokesman Vician.

Taliban threat

The Taliban, however, have warned of their preparations, which spell further danger for civilians.

“A lot of hit-and-run attacks and ground explosions will be used [in Marjah], for which structures and initial procedures have been completed,” read the Taliban statement of 10 February.

“We have laid bombs and mines all over the area and have told people not to [leave] their homes in order for them to be safe,” Mullah Uthoman, a purported Taliban commander in Marjah, told IRIN by telephone.

The insurgents have also been accused by the UN and rights watchdogs of using civilians as human shields in their fight against Afghan and foreign forces.

Uthoman denied these charges.

NATO said it would send road-clearing teams with its forces to Marjah to defuse roadside bombs and would also take into account the issue of civilians possibly used as shields by the Taliban.

“Indiscriminate attacks”

In Somalia, "indiscriminate attacks" by warring parties had become a well-established pattern in the country's armed conflict since early 2007, according to Benedicte Goderiaux, a researcher for Amnesty International's Africa programme.

She said Mogadishu has been particularly affected by such attacks - thousands of civilians have been killed or injured, hundreds of thousands displaced by fighting, and many civilian homes destroyed.

"As the warring sides gear up towards further fighting in Mogadishu, Amnesty International calls on all parties to the conflict to cease all indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks and to take all feasible precautions to avoid loss of life and injury of civilians," she said.

Goderiaux said Amnesty was calling on all parties to the conflict to allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access to displaced civilians in need of aid.

The African Union Mission, AMISOM, which controls key areas of the capital, is mandated to use force only to protect government institutions and infrastructure, such as Mogadishu port and airport, and to act in self-defence. AMISOM has denied various allegations by local and international rights groups and local community leaders of shelling civilian areas indiscriminately.

Aware of the allegations against AMISOM in Mogadishu, international partners of the AU force have strengthened efforts to improve firing discipline among Ugandan and Burundian troops on the ground, Lt Col Gabriel Rousselle, commander of French troops training and supporting Ugandan AMISOM peacekeepers, told IRIN in Uganda. Two ongoing training programmes conducted by France, the US and UK are putting battle-groups through rigorous firing-range training and teaching new tactics to reduce the threat of collateral damage.

Rousselle also said troops were being trained in urban warfare simulations that involved cordon-and-seizure tactics in an environment mimicking the narrow streets and alleys of Mogadishu. Exercises under way at the Ugandan People's Defence Force camp in Singo, northwest of the capital Kampala, demand a focused, unit-based approach to urban warfare that French trainers insist is delivering results.

Preparing for battle

Ali Sheikh Yassin, deputy chairman of the Mogadishu-based Elman Human Rights Organization, told IRIN on 11 February: "There is a feeling of impending doom across the city. Both sides have been beating the war drums. Those who have not already left are leaving the city."

Yassin claimed it was only a matter of time before full-scale war broke out. Whenever there was fighting in the city, civilians suffered the most, he said.

"Indiscriminate shelling has been the biggest problem for the civilians. The sides to the conflict don’t make a distinction between civilian areas and military targets," Yassin said.

He said there was a lack of respect and understanding for the laws of war. "There is a complete disregard for international humanitarian law on all sides."

Yassin said war crimes and crimes against humanity had been committed in Mogadishu in the past "and it won't be different this time. The only question is how bad will it be and will anything be done about it.

"Protection of civilians is the last thing the fighting groups think about. They will do anything and everything to get the upper hand."

He urged the fighting parties to protect innocent civilians and create "safe zones".

A local journalist said government forces had been reinforcing their positions in preparation. "They look more organized and disciplined than ever before."

He said Al-Shabab had also been bringing forces from central and southern Somalia in anticipation of the offensive.

Attempts by IRIN to contact Al-Shabab were unsuccessful.

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