Ugandan soldier fatally shoots 3 colleagues in Somalia

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — A Ugandan soldier has shot and killed three colleagues serving in Somalia as part of an African Union peacekeeping force, Uganda’s military said Tuesday.

Uganda People’s Defense Forces spokesman 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.

He said the soldier was arrested and will be flown to Uganda to face military court martial.

Uganda has had troops in Somalia since 2007 to combat the Somali insurgents who seek to overthrow the government in Mogadishu. Kenya, Burundi, Djibouti and Ethiopia also have troops with the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia.

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

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