From: Biniam Haile \(SWE\) (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Thu Jul 23 2009 - 14:49:52 EDT
Illness in Somalia kills 3 peacekeepers
Thu Jul 23, 2009 11:18am GMT
By Frank Nyakairu
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Three Burundian peacekeepers based in Somalia have
died from an unknown illness and 18 more are in a Kenyan hospital with
the same symptoms, an African Union (AU) official said on Thursday.
There are some 4,300 soldiers from Burundi and Uganda in Somalia's
capital defending key sites and helping government forces fight off
regular attacks from hardline insurgents with links to al Qaeda.
"The African Union and the Burundian government have dispatched a team
of medical experts to ascertain what has caused an illness in a
Burundian contingent," said Gaffel Nkolokosa, spokesman for the AU envoy
to Somalia.
"Twenty-one soldiers were evacuated earlier this week after exhibiting
similar symptoms and three of those have since died," he said, declining
to speculate on the cause of the illness or what the symptoms were.
Somalia's transitional government is hemmed into a few blocks of the
capital Mogadishu by rebels bent on toppling President Sheikh Sharif
Ahmed and imposing their own harsh version of sharia law throughout the
country.
Western nations fear that if the al Shabaab group, and the foreign
fighters within its ranks, seize control of Somalia, they could
destabilise neighbouring countries and train militants to launch attacks
elsewhere.
While al Shabaab controls much of southern and central Somalia, the
presence of AU troops has effectively led to a military stalemate in the
capital with neither side able to deliver a knock out blow.
At least 15 people were killed and 53 wounded in heavy fighting in three
districts of Mogadishu that started late on Wednesday and continued on
Thursday morning, according to Ali Muse from the Life Line ambulance
service.
Residents said the insurgents attacked positions held by government
soldiers and AU peacekeepers.
An estimated 223,000 people have fled Mogadishu since May 7, when
fighting erupted between government troops and al Shabaab.
http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE56M0BV20090723
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