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somalia
Families Demand Justice After US Admits Drone Strikes Killed Somali Civilians
"AFRICOM's perfunctory acknowledgment and empty condolences are not just underwhelming, they are a profound injustice," said the rights group Hūmānus, which represents two families of victims.
Sep 23, 2025
As the US has ramped up drone strikes in Somalia since President Donald Trump's return to power in January, the military has also confessed to some civilian deaths resulting from attacks conducted during his first term—but victims' families are demanding more.
Al Jazeera on Tuesday published interviews with two impacted family members. Abubakar Dahir Mohamed's 22-year-old sister, Luul Dahir Mohamed, and 4-year-old niece, Mariam, were killed on April 1, 2018. She left behind a son who is now 13.
The pair was traveling in a pickup truck with other passengers to a town where another brother lived. US Africa Command (AFRICOM) initially said it struck "five terrorists" and destroyed one vehicle, but later admitted an unnamed "mother and child" were killed.
As Al Jazeera detailed:
That day, according to media reports and Luul's family, US drones bombed the pickup truck. Immediately after, locals found several bodies in and around the site. Further down the road, about 60 metres (200 feet) away, was the lifeless body of Luul, clutching onto her child, whose small body was covered in shrapnel.
"When they fired on the vehicle, Luul made it out with her daughter. They knew it was a woman and child, and then they fired once again, killing them both in the second strike," Abubakar said from the Somali capital, Mogadishu.
"The Americans claim to uphold human rights, but apparently, when it comes to people like my sister and niece, their lives don't matter."
The outlet also spoke with Mohamed Osman Abdi—whose 17-year-old niece, Nuro Kusow Omar, was killed in a February 2, 2020 strike that also injured another niece and his mother-in-law—and reported on letters that AFRICOM recently sent to Hūmānus, a nongovernmental organization representing both families.
Under "current Department of Defense guidelines and policies, US Africa Command determined it is not feasible to make a condolence payment in this matter," AFRICOM claimed in both letters.
In an email to Al Jazeera, AFRICOM said it assessed "mission objectives, cultural norms, local economic realities" as well as "the feasibility, safety, security, and logistics of making the payment itself," and made the decision based on the risk that the money could be "subject to confiscation, extortion, or unofficial taxation by terrorist or hostile insurgent groups."
Osman Abdi said that "it's a cheap excuse. They killed and maimed these people. Using fears of the money being extorted or confiscated is another way of saying the lives [lost] are worth nothing."
"It's painful and shows how desperate they are to rid themselves of any accountability," he added.
In a statement shared on the networking platform LinkedIn, Hūmānus also called out the United States. AFRICOM confirmed civilian harm from the strikes "after years of grueling advocacy," the group said. "This is a victory, yes, but a hollow one. It is a testament to the bravery of our clients and the tireless work of our team, tainted by the very system we were forced to navigate."
"AFRICOM's perfunctory acknowledgment and empty condolences are not just underwhelming, they are a profound injustice. Our clients have already navigated a long and arduous process exhausting every available channel, only to be met with a system designed to look the other way," Hūmānus continued. "The irony is palpable: While the US Congress has earmarked funds for ex gratia payments, these families—who deserve peace and closure—have been met with nothing but institutional indifference."
"This refusal to provide reparations compounds their trauma and sends a deeply troubling message to other victims and survivors around the world," the group added. "Reparations are not just about money; they are a formal recognition of the harm and a vital, final step toward a full stop for survivors. When this crucial component is absent, the so-called 'accountability process' reveals itself as little more than an elaborate exercise in futility."
According to the think tank New America, the US has conducted 410 strikes in Somalia since the George W. Bush administration, killing at least dozens of civilians. Most have occurred under Trump: 219 during his first term and 80 this year.
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Israeli Officials Reportedly Held Talks About Displacing Palestinians to War-Torn South Sudan
"If implemented, the plans would amount to transferring people from one war-ravaged land at risk of famine to another," the Associated Press said.
Aug 13, 2025
Israel has reportedly discussed pushing the Palestinian population of Gaza to another war zone in South Sudan.
The Associated Press reported Tuesday that Israeli leaders had been engaged in talks with the African nation and that an Israeli delegation would soon visit the country to look into the possibility of setting up "makeshift camps" for Palestinians to be herded into.
"It's unclear how far the talks have advanced, but if implemented, the plans would amount to transferring people from one war-ravaged land at risk of famine to another," the AP said.
Like Gaza, South Sudan is in the midst of a massive humanitarian crisis caused by an ongoing violence and instability. In June, Human Rights Watch reported that more than half of South Sudan's population, 7.7 million people, faced acute food insecurity. The nation is also home to one of the world's largest refugee crises, with more than 2 million people internally displaced.
On Wednesday, the South Sudanese foreign ministry said it "firmly refutes" the reports that it discussed the transfer of Palestinians with Israel, adding that they are "baseless and do not reflect the official position or policy."
However, six sources that spoke to the AP—including the founder of a U.S.-based lobbying firm and the leader of a South Sudanese civil society group, as well as four who maintained anonymity—said the government briefed them on the talks.
Sharren Haskel, Israel's deputy foreign minister, also arrived in South Sudan on Tuesday to hold a series of talks with the president and other government officials.
While the content of these talks is unclear for the moment, the Israeli government is quite open about its goal of seeking the permanent transfer of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to other countries.
In addition to South Sudan, it has been reported that Israeli officials have also approached Sudan, Somalia, and the breakaway state of Somaliland, all of which have suffered from chronic war, poverty, and instability.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview with the Israeli TV station i24 that "the right thing to do, even according to the laws of war as I know them, is to allow the population to leave, and then you go in with all your might against the enemy who remains there."
Though Netanyahu has described this as "voluntary migration," Israeli officials have in the past indicated that their goal is to make conditions in Gaza so intolerable that its people see no choice but to leave.
Finance minister and war cabinet member Bezalel Smotrich, who has openly discussed the objective of forcing 2 million Palestinians out to make way for Israeli settlers, said in May: "Within a few months, we will be able to declare that we have won. Gaza will be totally destroyed."
Speaking of its people, he said: "They will be totally despairing, understanding that there is no hope and nothing to look for in Gaza, and will be looking for relocation to begin a new life in other places."
Contrary to Netanyahu's assertion, international bodies, governments, and human rights groups have denounced the so-called "voluntary migration" plan as a policy of forcible transfer that is illegal under international law.
"To impose inhumane conditions of life to push Palestinians out of Gaza would amount to the war crime of unlawful transfer or deportation," said Amnesty International in May.
Israeli human rights organizations, led by the group Gisha, explained in June in a letter to Israel's Defense Minister, Israel Katz, that there is no such thing as "voluntary migration" under the circumstances that the Israeli war campaign has imposed.
"Genuine 'consent' under these conditions simply does not exist," the groups said. "Therefore, the decision in question constitutes explicit planning for mass transfer of civilians and ethnic cleansing, while violating international law, amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity."
The plan to permanently remove Palestinians from the Gaza Strip has received the backing of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has said he wants to turn the strip into the "Riviera of the Middle East."
The U.S. State Department currently advises travelers not to visit Sudan or Somaliland due to the risk of armed conflict, civil unrest, crime, terrorism, and kidnapping. However, the United States has reportedly been involved in talks pushing these countries to take in the Palestinians forced out by Israel.
After Israel announced its plans to fully "conquer" Gaza, U.N. official Miroslav Jenča said during an emergency Security Council session on Sunday that the occupation push is "yet another dangerous escalation of the conflict."
"If these plans are implemented," he said, "they will likely trigger another calamity in Gaza, reverberating across the region and causing further forced displacement, killings, and destruction—compounding the unbearable suffering of the population."
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United States and Iran Help China Push Global Executions to 10-Year High
Lawmakers in southern U.S. states accused of demonstrating "a chilling commitment" to state-sponsored murder alongside "a callous intent to invest resources in the taking of human life."
May 29, 2024
The number of executions worldwide hit a nearly 10-year high in 2023 thanks to a surge in state killings by Iran, Saudi Arabia, China, and the United States.
A new global report published by Amnesty International documents that the death penalty was imposed on 1,153 people last year, though the total is believed to be significantly higher due to the secrecy surrounding China's penal system. The international human rights group believes "thousands" of people were executed by the Chinese government, but the exact figure is not known.
"This is the list you don't want your country to be on." —Amnesty International
The 1,153 figure was 30% higher than the number of people who received the death penalty in 2022 and the highest annual figure documented by Amnesty since 2015 when the number of confirmed killings was 1,634. In addition to executions carried out, the number of death sentences handed down rose by 20% in 2023, with a total of 2,428.
Among the other key findings of the report:
- U.S. executions rose from 18 to 24, keeping the U.S. among the world's top five executioners in the world.
- The top five nations for the death penalty were China ("thousands"), Iran (853+), Saudi Arabia (172), Somalia (38), and the U.S. (24).
- The 48% spike in executions in Iran made it the nation with the most documented death penalty cases;
- China continues to execute thousands, while threatening the public that crime will result in the death penalty
- Lowest number of executing countries on record shows progress.
In the United States, said Amnesty, the number of executions—all which took place in just five states across the south—rose 30% last year. The executions that took place were in Texas (8), Florida (6) Oklahoma (4), Missouri (4), and Alabama (2).
According to the report, the U.S. increase in state-sponsored murder was accompanied by new legislative moves that will allow for killing people by various means.
"Bills to carry out executions by firing squad were introduced in Idaho and Tennessee, while the Montana legislature considered a measure to expand the substances used in lethal injections," the report notes. "In South Carolina a new law was signed to conceal the identity of people or entities involved in the preparation or carrying out of executions. Alabama executed Kenneth Smith using the cruel and untested method of nitrogen asphyxiation just 14 months after subjecting him to a botched execution attempt."
Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International's secretary general, said legislators in those particular states, all dominated politically by Republican lawmakers, "demonstrated a chilling commitment to the death penalty and a callous intent to invest resources in the taking of human life" in 2023.
While rebuking the U.S. for its approach to the death penalty, Callamard said the "huge spike" in executions globally "was primarily down to Iran" last year.
"The Iranian authorities showed complete disregard for human life and ramped up executions for drug-related offenses, further highlighting the discriminatory impact of the death penalty on Iran's most marginalized and impoverished communities," she said. "Despite the setbacks that we have seen this year, particularly in the Middle East, countries that are still carrying out executions are increasingly isolated."
One bright spot noted in the report is that while executions overall were up, the number of nations where the death penalty was imposed actually went down.
"The inherent discrimination and arbitrariness that marks the use of the death penalty have only compounded the human rights violations of our criminal justice systems," said Callamard. "The small minority of countries that insist on using it must move with the times and abolish the punishment once and for all."
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