Massacre Reported in Port of Kismayu

In the southern port of Kismayu, warlord Omar Jess ordered more than 100 members of a rival clan killed in door-to-door searches in the days before U.S.-led forces arrived Dec. 20, the New York Times reported today. The victims were members of the Harti clan.

The paper quoted U.S. envoy Robert B. Oakley as saying he told Jess that “we knew exactly what went on and we won’t forget it.” Oakley and Jess met the day before the U.S. and Belgian forces arrived.

But Oakley told the newspaper it is not immediately clear if Jess can be punished by Western powers because there is no provision in the humanitarian mission to arrest people for war crimes.