African Union (AU) peacekeepers are indiscriminately shelling residential areas of Somalia’s capital, according to internal AU reports reviewed by reporters.
The evaluation was made months before Somali militants claimed they carried out twin bombings that killed 76 people in Uganda last week — attacks the insurgents said were to avenge civilian deaths caused by AU soldiers.
The series of reports, stamped for “Internal Use Only” and issued from April to last month, said that if indiscriminate shelling continues, the AU mission will lose the support of the Somali people.
Civilians have suffered through nearly two decades of violent chaos in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, since the government was overthrown in 1991. Al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab militants now control large portions of the capital, and much of the country’s southern and central regions.
The AU force, known as AMISOM, has long been criticized by human rights groups for civilian deaths in Somalia, and the internal reports seen by reporters show the mission itself is aware of the problem.
In a report issued in May, the AU expressed concern that the force “may not be adequately giving the issue of indiscriminate shelling of civilians the urgent attention it deserves.”
A similar report last month said AMISOM “continues to underestimate the importance of being seen to address this critical issue.”
An AU spokesman, Major Barigye Bahoku, denied on Wednesday that AU forces kill civilians, saying the deaths were caused by extremists who attack government and AU troops.
“Too many civilians are caught in the crossfire, but the responsibility for this lies on the destructive extremists who unleash reckless attacks on [government] and AMISOM forces,” Bahoku said.
Al-Shabab, the Muslim militant group that claimed responsibility for the July 11 attacks on a Kampala rugby club and restaurant packed with people watching the World Cup final on television, had long threatened to strike outside of Somalia’s borders.
However, Human Rights Watch said in a report in April that major parties to the conflict have carried out “numerous indiscriminate attacks ... with terrible consequences for the civilian population.”
The report accused Somali government troops and African peacekeepers of lobbing mortar rounds toward areas considered the source of incoming fire, or “simply bombarding areas such as Bakara market that are opposition strongholds.”
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