AMISOM insists stance following civilian deaths at UPDF hands

The UPDF Ugandan troops have killed seven civilians, including a renowned local elder Omar Geney after capturing them from a banana farm on the side of the road, according to families.

News Keydmedia Online
12 August 2021

MOGADISHU, Somalia - The African Union Mission in Somalia says it launched a throughout probe into civilians killed by Ugandan forces last Tuesday in the vicinity of Golweyn, Lower Shabelle region.

The UPDF Ugandan troops have killed seven civilians, including a renowned local elder Omar Geney after capturing them from a banana farm on the side of the road, according to families.

The relatives of the victims said the AU forces shot dead the people and then mutilated their bodies with an IED, to avoid being recognized. This was a cruel act, they added.

The cold-blooded murder came after a convoy carrying AU soldiers from Uganda came under attack by Al-Shabaab while traveling on a treacherous Marka-Barawe corridor.

The families of the victims call for justice as they held a rally in Mogadishu on Wednesday, vowing not to bury the bodies now put in a refrigerator at Digfeer hospital until they get a swift response.

“The incident was painful and unacceptable for AMISOM to massacre the civilians supposed to protect them from Al-Shabaab as their mandate requires,” said elder Mohamud Ali.

AMISOM argues that its troops were attacked while on patrol to secure their supply route and subsequently engaged in a battle with Al-Shabaab in which they killed 7 alleged terrorists and weapons seized.

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