Nairobi (Sunatimes) Displaced people and Somali government troops in Dobley border town/ AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam

Human Rights Watch has said all parties to Somalia’s armed conflict are guilty of serious breaches of international law, contributing to the country’s humanitarian catastrophe.

In its report released on Monday, the campaign group says civilians are bearing the brunt due to failure by any side to protect them, calling on all sides in the Somali conflict to immediately end abuses against civilians.

Human Rights Watch accused Al-Shabaab rebels fighting the Somali government of being guilty of unrelenting brutality including firing mortars indiscriminately in densely populated areas, while government troops and African Union Peacekeeping force in Somalia for having responded with indiscriminate attacks.

The report also accused government troops of carry out arbitrary arrests, detentions and restriction of free speech.

The 58-page HRW report entitled, You Don’t Know Who to Blame, also criticises the West for not exerting pressure to stop the abuses.

Somali government spokesman Abdirahman Omar Osman denied the accusations, calling the report inaccurate.

He said the Somali government deserves praise, not criticism, for forcing Al-Shabaab to withdraw from Mogadishu.

Human Rights Watch’s deputy director for Africa Rona Peligal, says the report also calls for holding those responsible for human rights abuses to account and ensuring access to aid.

She says the report which was compiled based on interviews with recently arrived Somali refugees in Kenya, as well as from other sources looks at abuses by Al-Shabaab, the Somali Transitional Federal Government, African Union peacekeeping forces and others.

Human Rights Watch urged all parties to the conflict in Somalia to take concrete steps to protect civilians – notably respecting basic measures aimed at protecting civilians during attacks – and ensuring that humanitarian access is facilitated at all times.

The campaign group repeated its call for a UN commission of inquiry to investigate violations of human rights and the laws of war by all sides since the beginning of the conflict and to lay the groundwork for accountability.