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HARGEISA, Somalia (AP) — Forensics experts are carefully uncovering bodies buried in mass graves in the northern edge of Somalia in the hopes of bringing comfort to the victims' families and justice to those responsible for the killings.
Kadar Ahmed, the chairman of the Somaliland War Crimes Investigation Commission, is overseeing teams that last year uncovered 38 bodies buried in two mass graves. Work is being carried out now on a third mass grave, where another dozen bodies are buried.
Ahmed says that many African countries try to forget about atrocities carried out in their pasts. He wants this northern tip of Somalia — a self-governing region called Somaliland — to confront those ghosts head-on.
An estimated 50,000 to 60,000 people were killed in Somaliland by Somalia's dictator in the late 1980s.
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