Somali government troops are out of control, as are their Ethiopian allies and other armed groups says human right's group Amnesty Foreign teachers killed in Somalia ...
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It says the situation is "dire" in central and southern Somalia, with civilians completely at the mercy of armed groups on all sides.
They carry out killings, torture, rape, beatings, arbitrary detention and forced disappearances, a report says.
Troops shot two Somalis dead on Monday in a protest over counterfeit money.
People who have visited the capital, Mogadishu, recently say parts of it are a ghost town, but Amnesty says residents fleeing the city are prey for armed bandits on the road who rape the girls and steal whatever they have taken with them.
Even in refugee camps Somalis face attack, Amnesty says. It says no one is offering them any protection.
Amnesty calls on the UN to condemn the violations in the strongest terms, strengthen its weapons embargo, increase its monitoring capacity, and set up a commission of inquiry.
At least two people were shot dead in the capital, Mogadishu, on Monday when when troops opened fire to halt riots over rising costs and counterfeit money.
Thousands of people rioted, burning tyres and throwing stones after traders refused to accept local notes and demanded US dollars instead.
The recent printing of local shilling notes on illegal presses has led to spiralling inflation, reporters say.
This and the increasing insecurity have seen food prices double.
Somalia has been without a central government for more than 17 years and for the past 17 months, the Ethiopian-back interim government has been struggling to exert its control over the country.
The United Nations reports that soaring food prices have already forced more than a third of all Somalis to rely on outside assistance to feed their families.
Last week, the UN Food Security Analysis Unit warned that the country was facing a major famine caused by prolonged drought and soaring food prices.
It said that half of the population would need food aid by the end of the year and that hyperinflation, the devaluation of the Somali shilling and the relentless armed conflict were making it more and more difficult for the urban poor to get enough to eat.
(BBC)
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