Six AU peacekeepers arrested in Somalia

Thursday 25 November 2010
Muhyadin Ahmed Roble, AfricaNews reporter in Nairobi, Kenya

African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia has arrested six of its soldiers after two civilians were killed in indiscriminate gunshot in Mogadishu. The incident occurred Tuesday as convoy of heavily armed peacekeepers opened fire on civilians at a road between the international airport and the strategic Km 4 Area in South Mogadishu.

Nearly 10 civilians among them children were also wounded in the accident.

The commander of the peacekeepers serving the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom), Major General Nathan Mugisha, has apologized.

Maj. Gen. Mugisha termed the incident unfortunate and shared with the Somali people their grief.

He said that one of the wounded was being treated at an Amisom medical facility, adding that the peacekeepers were ready to medically assist the other injured (that are being treated at Madina Hospital in Mogadishu) if required.

“We are not certain whether the soldiers were responding to a perceived threat,” the African Union force commander, Maj. Gen. Mugisha, said in a statement.

“However, all the soldiers involved have been arrested and taken into a military custody while a full inquiry is launched into the precise circumstances that took place.”

Local human rights and Mogadishu residents have accused Ugandan soldiers of routine firing into the air to disperse crowds.

Civilian casualties are increasingly problematic in Mogadishu, turning residents against the peacekeepers and Somali government.

Many residents are furious at the peacekeepers for shelling into civilian villages, though the peacekeepers say they are simply returning fire from insurgents.

Somalia’s al-Qaeda linked group of Al-Shabaab took credit for a suicide attack that hit Kampala in July that killed more 70 people. The group said it was a revenge for the innocent Somalis killed by Ugandan peacekeepers.

Source: AfricaNews.
Link: http://www.africanews.com/site/Six_AU_peacekeepers_arrested_in_Somalia/list_messages/36263.