"We arrested five AMISOM soldiers and ten Somali nationals who were selling tools by the AU troops here in Mogadishu…. sandbags for defense, telephones, weapon storage devices and fuel", Somali Police Commissioner Major General Mohamed Hassan is quoted by the Somali News Agency.
He said the soldiers were from Uganda and Burundi but declined to reveal their identities.
This is the first time the Somali government has arrested AU peacekeeping troops found in activities against their mission in the country. The multidimensional mission is mandate to pacify Somalia by reducing the threat posed by Al Shabaab and other armed opposition militia in the Horn of Africa country.
Somali Minister of Internal Security Abdirisak Omar Mohamed said the act is criminal and offensive. "This is a criminal act which the government will not accept, but will pursue and take proper action against," he said.
Amisom has, through its twitter handle, acknowledged the arrest of its troops and hastened to add that investigations are ongoing to establish the veracity of the claims.
-URN