Activists report on Somali citizen toll (AP)

[Eugene]

Activists report on Somali citizen toll

By SALAD DUHUL, Associated Press Writer

Sat Mar 10, 4:33 PM ET

MOGADISHU, Somalia - More than 1,700 civilians were killed and 2,000 wounded
in Somalia during the past year, a local human rights organization said Saturday.

Elman Human Rights Group said most of the deaths from March 9, 2006, to March
10, 2007, occurred in Mogadishu, one of the world's most violent and gun-infested
cities. The group based its estimated figures on hospital reports and interviews
with wounded victims in the country that has seen little more than anarchy for
more than a decade.

Much of the death toll stems from months of battles that culminated in a radical
Islamic militia wresting control of southern Somalia from an alliance of warlords
in June.

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Sudan Ali Ahmed, chairman of the human rights group, said the government must
"protect human rights, especially for women, children and displaced people
throughout the country, to rebuild all necessary judicial institutions and to
convene a national reconciliation conference."

-snip-

Full article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070310/ap_on_re_af/somalia