Somalia: Outrage after AMISOM accused of ‘civilians killing’

BULO MARER, Somalia-African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) troops have been blamed for the murder of four civilians in what some social media users portrayed to be “execution-style killing” in Lower Shabelle region of southern Somalia on Saturday, GaroweOnline reports. 

AMISOM forces are said to have shot dead four people including 80 years old elderly mother and 9-year-old child on the outskirts of Bulo Marer town. 

African Union troops have battled Al Shabaab insurgents in central and southern Somalia alongside Somali National Army (SNA) for years as part of stabilization efforts.  

In August, 2015, then-AMISOM head Maman Sidikou admitted that peacekeepers were responsible for the tragic killing of civilians at wedding party in Merca. 

The victims were leaving Bulo Marer for Mogadishu according to relatives. Local residents staged protests against African Union forces in the small town in Lower Shabellefollowing the killing.

Abdiwahid Moallim Abdullahi whose mother and daughter were among those killed told BBC Somali Service that, the incident was gruesome. 

In July last year, Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused AMISOM troops in Somalia of civilian deaths. Somalia’s UN-backed national government is fending off lingering Al Shabaab threats with the propping of over 22, 000-strong peacekeepers.

GAROWEONLINE