On the heels of separate allegations from Amnesty International and an al-Shabaab-linked news outlet that U.S. military airstrikes caused the deaths of civilians in Somalia, officials with U.S. Africa Command will launch a new report, to be released quarterly, tracking allegations of civilian casualties and the investigations that follow.
That report is set to be released before the end of April, said Air Force Maj. Karl Wiest, a spokesman for AFRICOM.
"Each quarter, AFRICOM will issue an update providing any new allegations and updating the status of assessments that have been closed or remain open," he said. "This initiative is designed to increase transparency regarding civilian casualty allegations that are reported to the command and will demonstrate the U.S. military's constant commitment to minimizing collateral damage in the pursuit of military operations."
Earlier this month, the command released a rare announcement disputing two local reports alleging an April 10 airstrike in Somalia had resulted in the death of a civilian. Those reports were propaganda from the al-Qaida-linked militant group al-Shabaab, officials said, adding that the only person killed in the attack was a terrorist who had killed at least six innocent Somalis.
Related: Pentagon Denies Causing Civilian Casualties in Airstrikes over Somalia
But as airstrikes have ramped up in the wake of an al-Shabaab attack on the Kenya-Somalia border that left three Americans dead, other allegations of civilian casualties have emerged.
The human rights group Amnesty International this month claimed that the Defense Department had failed to disclose the deaths of two civilians in a February airstrike -- one that military officials claimed at the time killed only terrorists.
Wiest said that specific allegation is still being investigated.
"The command's civilian casualty allegation assessment process is precise, comprehensive, and led by a team of experts. There is no set timeline for the completion of civilian casualty allegation assessments as we have a rigorous process and we will not rush, nor cut corners," he said in an emailed statement. "I'll add that U.S. Africa Command goes to extraordinary lengths to reduce the likelihood of civilian casualties, exercising restraint as a matter of policy that regularly exceeds the restrictions of the law of armed conflict. The command will continue to conduct its operations in this manner as it is the moral and ethical thing to do."
He added that the planning and assessment process for strikes is meticulous, as is the follow-on analysis.
"Our in-depth post-strike analysis relies on intelligence methods that are not available to non-military organizations, including Amnesty International," he said.
The launch of the new quarterly report, he said, had not been motivated by Amnesty's allegations, but was an initiative begun by Gen. Stephen J. Townsend when he assumed command of AFRICOM last year as part of a larger effort to "review and revise" procedures to track, assess and report civilian casualty claims.
"We will begin issuing these quarterly reports to demonstrate heightened transparency and commitment to protecting civilians from unnecessary harm," Wiest said.
AFRICOM, which became operational in late 2008, has to date acknowledged only one incident of an airstrike causing civilian casualties: an April 1, 2018, incident in which a woman and child were reportedly killed in El Buur, Somalia.
The organization Airwars.org, however, says it's tracking 68 alleged civilian casualty incidents since AFRICOM stood up, and estimates between 76 and 149 civilian deaths.
The Jan. 5 al-Shabaab attack on Manda Bay airfield in Kenya has been followed by increased strike activity and multiple announcements from AFRICOM about the successful elimination of key leaders from the group.
As of April 1, according to Airwars assessments, U.S. forces have conducted 32 airstrikes on targets in Somalia, a significant ramp-up from 2019, when AFRICOM conducted 63 total strikes for the year.
-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.
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