The Respondents

Who’s Actions Constitute Act of war crimes and Genocide

DATED: December 20, 2007

UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS IN NEW YORK, GENEVA, VIENNA, AND PARIS

THE SOMALI VICTIMS, APPLICANTS,

VS.

THE RESPONDENTS

TO: THE SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS, THE MEMBERS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL, THE COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS, THE SUB-COMMISSION ON PREVENTION OF DISCRIMINATION AND PROTECTION OF MINORITIES, UNESCO, UNICEF, THE HEADS OF ALL NGO'S, ETC.

RE: INDICTMENT, COMPLAINT, AND PETITION BY THE SOMALI VICTIMS FOR RELIEF FROM GENOCIDE IN BOTH THEIR OFFICIAL AND PERSONAL CAPACITIES BY THE RESPONDENTS.

I. INTRODUCTION

(1.) We, on behalf of the Applicants, herein THE SOMALI VICTIMS, invoke the jurisdiction of the United Nations and its organs by virtue of the provisions of the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, and file this Indictment, Complaint and Petition on their own behalf. The Applicants charge the Respondents with committing the international crime of genocide against The SOMALI VICTIMS. Applicants pray for the termination of the international AND all forms of bilateral sanctions against Somalia, and to secure the massive provision of international humanitarian relief required in order to save the Internally Displaced masses from death, disease, malnutrition, starvation, and extermination at the hands of the Respondents. Applicants also pray for monetary compensation for the harm done to them and all other forms of relief deemed necessary and appropriate. Finally, Applicants request the institution of criminal proceedings against the Respondents for committing the international crime of genocide by the appropriate international organs and by all States of the World Community under their respective municipal legal systems.

II. THE FACTS

(2.) The Applicants are The Somali Victims.

(3.) The Respondents are (1) Meles Zenawe, Prime Minister of Ethiopia, (2)Col. Abdullahi Yusuf Interim President of Somalia, (3) Mr. Ali Mohamed Gedi, Interim prime Minister of Somalia and their associates in both their official and personal capacities. (

4.) The Respondents are the Persons, States and organisations primarily responsible for initiating war of aggression against Somalia, planning, financing, ordering, commanding, executing and imposing the now year-long Genocide against the innocent civilian population of Somalia in general and the civilian inhabitants of Mogadishu in particular. (5.) Reports from our own field officers, the United Nations organs, the Physicians and other personnel of national and international Human Rights groups, the International Red Cross, the local and International media, other independent organizations, and private Somali and foreign citizens have overwhelmingly documented the fact that, the indiscriminate and sustained carpet bumping of the capital city Mogadishu by the Ethiopian occupation army have resulted in a veritable civilian massacre, that civilians who sought refuge in their homes and not hit by the Ethiopian rockets and heavy calibre artillery shells are dragged out of their homes and collectively executed in cold blood, that even the civilians fleeing to the outskirts of the city from the indiscriminate bombardments are hunted down thus intentionally causing outrageous massacre of the civilian population, this together with the American air raids in the most southern tip of Somalia, making use of some of the deadliest warplanes in the American arsenal, the AC-130 flying fortress and NAPALM munitions (outlawed under the 1977 Geneva protocol), massacring civilian pastoralists and their camels and cattle constitutes, under the jurisdiction of the United Nations and its organs by virtue of the provisions of the United Nations Charter, that Respondents are responsible for the commission of the international crime of genocide against the Applicants.

(6) The systematic and indiscriminate destruction of all sources of income, the plunder of public and private property, the destruction of hospitals and other healthcare facilities, the wanton destruction of the city of Mogadishu and the indiscriminate devastation not justified by military necessity all constitute International crime against humanity.(

7.) Malnutrition, starvation, disease and death has become severe and widespread in Somalia in general and the capital city Mogadishu and its suburbs in particular since the Ethiopian invasion. The system of medical care has broken down, as the occupation army of Ethiopia either has transformed the hospitals into military bases, closed them down or destroyed them through bombing raids resulting in the disappearance of almost the entire health care due to that fact combined with acute shortages of medicines, equipment, and staff who fled the horror of the Ethiopian indiscriminate massacre.

Respondents are thus directly responsible for the commission of the international crime of genocide against the Applicants, The Somali victims.

(8.) Respondent Ethiopia, the member states of the European Union who finance both Ethiopia and the TFG, and the United States of America which arms the Ethiopian occupation forces are all Contracting Parties to the International Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948, which will hereinafter be referred to as "the Genocide Convention".

(9.) Article I of the Genocide Convention provides that the Contracting Parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law, which they undertake to prevent and to punish. (23.) Article II of the Genocide Convention defines the international crime of "genocide" as follows:

Article II. In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

(10.) Article III of the Genocide Convention provides that the following acts shall likewise all be punishable: (a) genocide; (b) conspiracy to commit genocide; (c) direct and public incitement to commit genocide; (d) attempt to commit genocide; (e) complicity in genocide.

The European Union, Under the current desperate circumstances, responsible officials of Member States permitting the continuation of the current premeditated massacre against the civilian population of Somalia, could commit the separate international crime of "complicity" in the crime of genocide that is today being inflicted upon the Applicants by the Respondents, in violation of Article III(e) of the Genocide Convention. (

11.) According to Article IV of the Genocide Convention, persons committing genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in Article III shall be punished, whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials, or private individuals. This basic requirement of the Genocide Convention is fully applicable to Respondents Meles Zenawe, Abdullahi Yusuf, Ali Mohamed Gedi and their past, present and future associates.

(12.) According to Article V of the Genocide Convention, the Contracting Parties undertake to enact, in accordance with their respective Constitutions, the necessary legislation to give effect to the provisions of the Genocide Convention and, in particular, to provide effective penalties for persons guilty of genocide or of any of the other acts enumerated in Article III. (

13.) The same principles of international criminal law have been incorporated into the municipal legal systems of almost all States in the World Community today. Wherefore, there is universality of jurisdiction for any State to prosecute The Respondents of this case, for committing genocide against the Applicants, The Somali victims. Like unto a pirate, the Respondents are the enemy of all humankind.

IV. COMPETENCE

(14.) Article I of the Genocide Convention makes it quite clear that all 99 states that are Contracting Parties have an international legal obligation "to prevent" the commission of genocide against Applicants, The Somali victims.

(15.) Article VIII of the Genocide Convention provides that any Contracting Party "may call upon the competent organs of the United Nations to take such action under the Charter of the United Nations as they consider appropriate for the prevention and suppression of acts of genocide ..."

(16.) Thus, all 99 states parties to the Genocide Convention have both the right and the duty under international law to bring the genocidal situation in Somalia to the attention of the entire United Nations Organization, as well as its affiliated organizations such as UNESCO, UNICEF, etc. (

17.) The Genocide Convention expressly confers international legal competence upon all organs of the United Nations--including the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the General Assembly, the Secretary General, the International Court of Justice, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, UNESCO, UNICEF, etc. to avert the genocidal situation in Somalia. But so far, such individual steps and collective actions by Member States have not been taken for fear of running afoul of the all-powerful Respondents, who represent and constitute the only self-styled "superpower" sitting as one of the five Permanent Members of the Security Council.

V. JURISDICTION

(18.) That the organs and agencies of the United Nations, including the Secretary General, the Economic and Social Council, the General Assembly, the Human Rights Commission, the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, UNESCO and UNICEF, inter alia, have the jurisdiction to receive and hear this Indictment, Complaint and Petition, and to provide the Relief requested herein. (19.) That the organs of the United Nations are endowed with explicit and inherent powers to assume jurisdiction of cases of the kind presented in this Indictment, Complaint and Petition is reflected in the Charter of the United Nations. Chapter I, Article 1(1) of the Charter obligates the United Nations and its members to "maintain international peace and security." Such peace and security are threatened by many acts short of open interstate warfare. Genocide by the Respondents against the Applicants, The Somali victims, threatens international peace and security.

(20.) As the situation described above constitutes a constant threat to the maintenance of international peace and security, the Secretary General, under the authority conferred upon him by Article 99 of the Charter, is entitled and it is his moral duty to bring this matter to the attention of the Security Council. He is also authorized by Rule 13(g) of the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly to include in the Assembly's agenda any item which he deems it necessary to put before the Assembly. Applicants hereby request the Secretary General to include their Indictment, Complaint, and Petition on the agenda of the first forthcoming General Assembly, and to bring it to the attention of the Security Council.

(21.) The General Assembly is authorized to act under Chapter IV, Article 22 of the United Nations Charter to establish an ad hoc Tribunal empowered to grant the Relief requested herein. For instance, in 1950, the General Assembly established a special tribunal to deal with various claims arising in the former Italian colony of Libya. Given the circumstances detailed in this Indictment, Complaint and Petition, the creation of such a Tribunal would be justified and necessary to carry out the very Purposes and Principles for which the United Nations was established: to ensure peace and security and to guarantee the protection of fundamental human rights. Applicants request the first forthcoming General Assembly from this date, to establish such a Tribunal as a subsidiary organ and to charge it with the responsibility to investigate and adjudicate their Indictment, Complaint and Petition, as well as to order all forms of Relief requested.

(22.) That all Members of the United Nations have pledged themselves under U.N. Charter Chapter IX Articles 55 and 56 to take action to ensure respect for human rights. Article 55 states in part:

With a view to the creation of conditions of stability and wellbeing which are necessary for peaceful and friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, the United Nations shall promote:

(c) Universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.

Article 56 states:

All Members pledge themselves to take joint and separate action in co-operation with the Organization for the achievement of the purposes set forth in Article 55.
(23.) Such a pledge indicates that under the Charter, Member States must be prepared to take action to assist in enforcing and protecting human rights. Should an organ of the United Nations determine that the rights of Applicants were violated by Respondents and recommend action, Member States have pledged themselves to co-operate with the United Nations in taking necessary steps under the Charter to promote "universal respect for, and observance of, human rights."

(24) These human rights provisions of the United Nations Charter were further elaborated upon and specified by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by consensus by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights enunciates the basic standards of international human rights law to which all individuals around the world are entitled. Indeed, it is the official position of the United Nations Organization and of the Respondents Ethiopia and its allies that, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is binding upon all States and for the benefit of all People around the world as a matter of customary international law. (

25.) Among the plethora of rights guaranteed to the Applicants by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that are currently being systematically violated by the Respondents, the most sacred and most fundamental right of all is their very right to life itself, as recognized by Article 3 thereof: "Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person." Respondents act as if the "everyone" referred to in Article 3 does not include the Applicants, The Somali victims.(26.) Applicants also assert that the Respondents have grossly, consistently, and systematically violated the fundamental right that has been guaranteed to them by Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."

(27.) Applicants, The Somali victims, also assert that the Respondents have violated all of the rights guaranteed to them by the International Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989.

(28.) Applicants also assert that the Respondents have violated the special protections of international humanitarian law guaranteed to children by the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 and the Additional Protocol I thereto of 1977. (

29.) Under the human rights provisions of the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Genocide Convention, the Children's Convention, and the Fourth Geneva Convention and Protocol I, Applicants are proper parties to invoke the jurisdiction of the United Nations in requesting Relief on their own behalf in order to be relieved from the inhuman, degrading, cruel, criminal, and genocidal conditions perpetrated upon them by the Respondents.

(30.) Due to the fact that the Respondents represent and constitute the protégé’ of the only self-styled "superpower" sitting as one of the five Permanent Members of the Security Council, the Respondents have repeatedly and abusively used the influence of their protégé’s voting power in a manner that is ultra vires the "primary responsibility" for the maintenance of international peace and security that has been conferred upon the Security Council by Article 24(1) and (2) of the United Nations Charter: " In discharging these duties the Security Council shall act in accordance with the Purposes and Principles of the United Nations." According to Article 1(3) of the Charter, one of the foremost Purposes of the United Nations is proclaimed to be "... promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all ..."

(31.) That as a direct result of the illegal and ultra vires conduct by the Respondents at the Security Council, the Applicants have nowhere else to turn for Relief except to the General Assembly, the Secretary General, the Economic and Social Council, the Human Rights Commission, the Sub-commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, UNESCO and UNICEF, etc. in order to save themselves from the death, disease, malnutrition, starvation and genocide that is currently being inflicted upon them by the Respondents.

(32.) That the General Assembly has the inherent power to create methods and instrumentalities to carry out the Purposes and Principles of the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Genocide Convention and the other aforementioned instruments of international law. The Secretary General also possesses inherent powers and moral duty to carry out these Purposes and Principles. The same is true for the Human Rights Commission, the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, as well as for UNESCO and UNICEF, etc. (

33.) That the Respondents represent and constitute Member States of the United Nations and therefore would be obligated to act in compliance with any determination by any United Nations organ concerning this matter.

VI. PRAYER FOR RELIEF

(34.) Applicants pray for the issuance of a Directive by the Secretariat, or the General Assembly, or the Economic and Social Council, or the Human Rights Commission, or the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, or UNESCO, or UNICEF or any other competent organ or agency of the United Nations to hear this Indictment, Complaint and Petition; to investigate and adjudicate the allegations of genocide by Respondents against Applicants.

(35.) Applicants also pray for the massive provision of international humanitarian relief to Somalia by the United Nations Organizations as a whole, its specialized agencies and affiliated organizations, as well as by all Member States thereof, in order to save them from death, disease, malnutrition, starvation, genocide, and extermination at the hands of the Respondents. (

36.) Applicants also pray for due compensation to be paid by Respondents to Applicants and their families for the deaths as well as physical and mental injury caused by Respondents' actions in violation of the Genocide Convention and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, inter alia.

(37.) Applicants pray that proper sanctions be taken against Respondents for any refusal to comply with any of the orders or decisions that the United Nations or any international organ makes in relation to this matter.(

38.) Applicants pray that the United Nations authorize a full investigation of the matters presented in this Indictment, Complaint and Petition and subsequently authorize a complete and public disclosure of all evidence and findings of fact at the conclusion of such investigation. (39.) Applicants further pray that the appropriate organs of the United Nations Organization -- as well as of all the Member States thereof -- institute criminal proceedings against Respondents for committing the international crime of genocide against the Applicants, as required by the Genocide Convention and the municipal legal systems of all civilized nations, including their own.

VII. CONCLUSION

THE PEOPLES AND COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD MUST NOT TURN THEIR EYES AWAY IN SHAME FROM SOMALIA AS HUMANKIND AT THE DAWN OF THE NEXT MILLENNIUM OF ITS PARLOUS EXISTENCE. AS SOMALIA’S VICTIMS GO, SO GOES THE ENTIRE WORLD!

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED ON BEHALF OF THE APPLICANTS, THE SOMALI VICTIMS,

SORA (Somali Relief Association)

Dr. A.F. Dualeh /Gen. Secretary