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Friday, 23
February 2007
Ref: SHHRF 0075/2007
Rt. Hon Tony Blair MP, Prime Minister
10 Downing Street
London SW1A 2AA
Re: Our concern with treating as guest a warlord in
Britain
This is our third letter to you about our concern with
the medical treatment which Warlord President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed of
Somalia is receiving in Britain. From time to time, warlord Abdullahi Yusuf
Ahmed comes to London for medical check up for a liver transplant he
received at Cromwell hospital in 1996.
Warlord Abdullahi Yusuf has a notorious and disturbing
history in Somalia known for his contempt to democracy and human dignity by
eliminating his political rivalries rather than accommodating them as
legitimate opposition.
Warlords, likes Abdullahi Yusuf, are never supposed to
come to Britain let alone getting medication as they go back to kill and
displace many people. It is weird this time the warlord is given a higher
status by considering him as guest of British Government for two days (21-22
February) and meeting senior officials like Lord Triesman, Foreign Office
Minister for Africa and Hilary Benn, the International Development
Secretary.
It regrettable to give such status to a man who on 14th
March 2005 lost a court case in the High Court of Justice (Case No
HQ02X03221) causing the death of Sultan Ahmed Mohamud Mohamed (known as
Sultan Hurre) in Somalia on 17th August 2002. The case was
brought by the widow and children of the late Sultan Hurre. Sultan Hurre was
a naturalised British citizen who went to his home country to help his
people in the process of rebuilding their shattered lives following the
collapse of the state institutions.
As admitted by Warlord President Abdullahi Yusuf,
Sultan Hurre was killed by the warlord’s own bodyguards. Ironically, this
type of extra-judicial execution is believed to be similar to those carried
against Colonel Farah Mohamed Said (Farah Dheere) in 2002 and Abdirahman
Aideed in 1984. What these men shared was nothing else but by being the
political opponents of the warlord president.
As we stated before, Britain should not be a heaven
where warlords get treatment.
Sultan Hurre Human Rights Focus (SHHRF)
cc: Lord (David) Triesman, MP, Foreign
Office Minister for Africa
cc: Hilary Benn, , MP, the International Development
Secretary. |
