The former prime minister of Somalia, now a resident of Virginia, was sued last Thursday for allegedly allowing war crimes and other human rights abuses to be committed in the 1980s. A similar lawsuit was filed against a former Somali Army battalion commander who allegedly carried out and supervised killings, torture and beatings. He also lives in Virginia. Mohamed Ali Samatar was Barre's defense minister from 1980 to 1987 and prime minister from 1987 to 1990, and therefore exerted control over the country's armed forces, according to the lawsuit.