Gunmen allegedly forced farmers to grow pot
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MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- Armed Somali factions are taking over small-scale subsistence farms in southern Somalia and are forcing the farmers to grow marijuana, Somali human right groups say.
Gunmen have "confiscated" some 150 farms in the Lower Shabelle region, most of which are now being used to grow the narcotic plant, 13 rights groups said in a joint statement Wednesday.
"These drugs are sold inside the country and smuggled to foreign countries," said Maryan Owrea, chairwoman of the Isma'iil Jum'aale Human Rights Center.
Owrea said some of the farmers had been either killed or tortured.
The rights groups complained that human rights abuses in Somalia are getting worse, 13 years after the Horn of Africa nation descended into chaos following the ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
The country of 7 million people has not had an effective central government since Siad Barre's ouster and is ruled by armed, clan-based factions.
Somalia's main faction leaders are currently locked in talks in neighboring Kenya in a bid to end the chaos in the country and form a transitional government. The peace process, which began in October 2002, is in its final phase, but the violence has continued in Somalia.
The rights groups said that during the past decade, unarmed civilians "have been facing gross human right violations, such as rape, robbery, extortion, abduction, molestation and senseless killings from the militias of the armed groups in Somalia."
Copyright 2004 The
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