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General denies human rights abuses

[Somalia] Major General Muhammad Gani, former northwest military commander. IRIN
Muhammad Gani - "I don't see myself as a war criminal, and I'm not running from anything that I've supposedly done"
    NAIROBI

    Major General Muhammad Hashi Gani, a newly elected member of Somalia’s Transitional national Assembly (TNA) has denied allegations of human rights abuses while he was military commander of the northern Somalia region in the 1980s under the former president, Muhammad Siyad Barreh. In an interview with IRIN published on Thursday he also said he was optimistic about the new interim authority which emerged after more than three months of talks in Arta, in neighbouring Djibouti.

    In response to charges that the Somaliland administration has boycotted Arta because it claimed, he among others, were “war criminals”, he responded: “I am not someone who is running away from a crime I have committed against the Somali people. And it’s up to the Somali people and their government to do something about anyone accused of committing crimes against their people. I don’t see myself as a war criminal, and I’m not running from anything that I’ve supposedly done.” The general has been accused of atrocities by both international human rights organisations and by Somalis.

    See also: SOMALIA: IRIN Interview with Major General Muhammad Gani, former
    northwest military commander

    http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/cea/countrystories/somalia/20000831.phtml

    See also: SOMALIA: IRIN interview with “warlord Shatigudud”
    http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/cea/countrystories/somalia/20000831a.phtml

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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