Why is it an Area of Concern?

The scale of the conflict in Somalia is similar to the levels of direct, targeted violence seen in the Democratic Republic of Congo during 2008 and 2009. Furthermore, the tactics employed by both insurgents and the Somali government, including indiscriminate shelling, shows a deep indifference to the effects of war on the civilian population. The ongoing conflict has also limited the ability of the international community to provide humanitarian assistance to the more than 3.6 million Somalis who require such assistance.

There appears to be an element of deliberate targeting of civilians by insurgents, who have specifically targeted Somali citizens on charges of collaboration with the Ethiopian military, Somali government and humanitarian agencies. Both of these types of violence are considered serious by the Genocide Intervention Network and the scale of harm in Somalia is at a level with similar conflicts in Afghanistan and Pakistan.