Somalia tops list of countries where minorities most under threat

Somalia is the world’s most dangerous country for minority communities and has overtaken Iraq to top a global ranking of countries where minorities are most under threat, Minority Rights Group International (MRG) says in a new global survey.

Fierce fighting and the threat of state repression have seen Somalia, Iraq and Sudan lead this year’s ranking of ‘Peoples under Threat’, which is a major feature of MRG’s annual ‘State of the World’s Minorities’ report. Last year Iraq led the list and Somalia was in third place.

‘A new government in Somalia has raised hopes for democracy, but it is also a uniquely dangerous time. There is the spectre of a return of large-scale clan violence – and groups that supported the old order are now under tremendous threat,” Mark Lattimer, Director of MRG says.

Key allies of the US in its ‘war on terror’, including the governments of Pakistan, Turkey and Israel, intensified repression of particular ethnic communities in 2006. Pakistan is in the top 20 list and Turkey and Israel/OT have both shown major rises in the rankings.