Friday November 12, 2021
MOGADISHU (HOL) - A military tribunal sitting in Mogadishu has sentenced a Ugandan soldier to death and another one to 39 years in jail for the murder of civilians in Lower Shabelle region.
The Ugandan courts martial found the two officers guilty of killing civilians in Gobweyn in Somalia's Lower Shabelle region in September.
AMISOM admitted earlier that the soldiers killed civilians during an offensive against the militant group.
The spokesperson of the Lower Shabelle region farmers, Hussein Osman Wasuge who spoke to BBC Somali service said some of the relatives of the victims and farmers had attended the case proceedings.
The proceedings had been running from October 5 at the Halane base camp where the UN and Amisom headquarters in Somalia are based.
Seven witnesses had testified against six suspected Ugandan soldiers.
"For two days, the people who were testifying against the soldiers were participating in the process. The trial was taking place in Halane camp, but for us Somalis, there were no lawyers to represent us," said Hussein Osman.
The Ugandan martial court has in the past tried its soldiers who are serving under AMISOM in Somalia.
Ugandan soldiers are based in the capital Mogadishu and the Lower Shabelle region.