Kampala - Uganda has suspended 15 of its senior military commanders over
their conduct in Somalia including allegations of sexual exploitation, the
army said on Thursday.
The action comes in the wake of a damning report by Human Rights Watch which
has accused troops with the internationally-funded African Union force in
Somalia, Amisom, of preying on vulnerable women and girls.
"We are doing a general appraisal on performance of the force," Uganda's
defence and army spokesperson Paddy Ankunda told AFP.
"It's not sexual harassment alone," he said, but added the concerns were
"one aspect we are looking at".
"Those are allegations. We are investigating. Until the investigations are
completed that's when we will know their involvement '[in sexual abuse], but
for now they are suspended," he said.
Investigation
The spokesperson said the suspended officers included two generals.
The 22,000-strong Amisom force comprises soldiers drawn from six nations,
and has been fighting alongside Somali government troops against the
al-Qaeda-affiliated Shabaab insurgents since 2007.
Amisom donors include the United Nations, European Union, Britain and the
United States.
The Human Rights Watch report quoted several women as saying they had gone
to the Amisom camp seeking medicine for their sick babies, but where then
forced to have sex. The vulnerable women largely came from camps in the
capital Mogadishu, having fled rural Somalia during a devastating famine in
2011.
AU chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has already ordered an investigation into
the allegations, and the probe is due to be completed by 30 November. The
pan-African bloc, however, has also accused Human Rights Watch of being
unfair and inaccurate, and of undermining peace efforts in the war-torn Horn
of Africa nation.