From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Sun Feb 22 2009 - 06:01:10 EST
Blast rocks at African Union camp in Somali capital
22.02.2009
MOGADISHU (AFP) - A blast rocked a base housing Burundian African Union
troops in the Somali capital Mogadishu Sunday, shortly after a car entered
the complex, witnesses reported.
"I've seen a car entering in Burundian camp in the former Somali National
University," one witness, Ali Mohamed, told AFP. "Minutes later, there was a
huge explosion."
"An incident took place in one of our camps," a Burundian officer with
AMISOM, the African Union peacekeeping mission to Somalia, told AFP.
"We are still investigating," said the officer, who asked not to be named.
With the withdrawal in early January of pro-government Ethiopian troops from
Somalia, the AU troops are the only foreign force left in Mogadishu.
Earlier this month, the hardline Somali Islamist group Shebab called on its
fighters to intensify their holy war against AU peacekeepers.
Shebab spent two years battling the Ethiopian forces who invaded Somalia in
late 2006 but completed a pullout last month.
The Al Qaeda-linked organisation has since pledged repeatedly to continue
its armed struggle against AU peacekeepers, whom they regularly describe as
invaders and crusaders.
The 3,400-strong AU mission in Somalia, deployed in March 2007 and made up
of Burundian and Ugandan troops, never managed to draw the 8,000 troops
initially envisaged.
As well as being under-strength, the mission's effectiveness has been
hampered by under-funding and lack of equipment.
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