US military releases civilian casualty report in Somalia
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Staff reporter GAROWE ONLINE
- Posted On 21-08-2021, 07:56AM
NAIROBI, Kenya - The US Africa Command on Friday released a civilian casualty report in Somalia, which assesses operations of the troops who have been assisting local forces especially through the aerial surveillance in the fight against Al-Shabaab.
Civilian casualty assessment was introduced in 2020 following complaints of deaths targeting innocent civilians from the airstrikes. The US said the move would improve transparency in such exercises besides helping those who may be accidentally affected.
In the latest quarterly civilian casualty assessment reporting period ending June 30, 2021, U.S. Africa Command received one report of civilian casualties on May 31, 202, the Command said in a statement.
The report was a duplicate of May 2018 reports previously assessed by the U.S. Africa Command and found to be unsubstantiated. The command closed out and substantiated one additional case that was carried over from the previous civilian casualty assessment report. There are currently no open civilian casualty assessments.
This was the sixth quarterly civilian casualty assessment report since U.S. Africa Command began releasing reports in April 2020 as part of its commitment to increased transparency and accountability.
The command said it continues to study recommendations made during the March 2021 non-governmental organization (NGO) roundtable in order to refine the civilian casualty assessment process.
With every airstrike, we conduct a thorough pre-strike assessment to reduce the likelihood of civilian harm," said U.S. Army Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander, U.S. Africa Command, in a statement.
"Unfortunately, our Jan. 1 airstrike, which was designed to protect re-positioning U.S. troops and precisely hit its intended target, likely also caused injuries to three civilians nearby.”
Jan.1, 2021, a civilian casualty incident has been reported to the U.S. Embassy in Mogadishu, the U.S. Congress, and the Federal Government of Somalia.
US army left Somalia in January 2021 following an order from the Department of Defense but since Joe Biden took over, there have been plans to redeploy the troops to the Horn of Africa nation. Currently, a number of US Special Forces are in Wajir, Kenya, where they are assisting KDF in the Al-Shabaab war.
GAROWE ONLINE
