Ugandan peace-keeper mows down three colleagues in Somalia

A Uganda soldier, member of the country’s contingent of an African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia, has shot dead three of his colleagues, the Ugandan army said Tuesday.

Spokesperson for the military Brig. Gen. Felix Kulayigye said the soldier woke up Monday morning and “sprayed bullets” at his colleagues. All four were part of the force guarding the international airport in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu.

“We wonder if he was stressed or had a mental problem and we didn’t know,” Kulayigye said, adding that Uganda’s army has set up a board of inquiry to find the cause of the shooting.

The soldier has been arrested and will be flown back home to face the martial court, the army spokesman added.

Kampala has had troops in Somali since 2017 and a contingent within the ranks of the African Union forces against al Shabab insurgents.

The last such shooting involving Ugandan soldiers in Somalia occurred in May 2019 when a soldier shot dead his superior officer before killing himself, Africa News reports.

Uganda launched in 2017 a national psychiatric hospital unit to help soldiers, especially those who served in Somalia, overcome trauma following a rise in cases of soldiers killing people in public places.