African Union Troops Accused of Raping 20-Year-Old Woman in Mogadishu

Said they were arresting her for terrorism, gang raped in a military camp according to a Somali women's network

On the 8th August 2013, a 20 year old Somali woman was kidnapped close to her village in Yaqshid district, Mogadishu and brutally raped by AMISOM forces. The woman in question was initially approached by a group of five armed personnel, four men and one woman, in Somali government uniforms who claimed that she was being arrested for suspected involvement in terrorist activities.

She was informed she was being taken to the police station for investigation; instead she was taken directly to Maslah Military Camp which houses AMISOM troops in Hurwaa District. She was drugged and then raped by a number of men, understood to be members of the AMISOM forces. It is believed that the Somali's who initially arrested her did not participate in the rape itself, but served as intermediaries to bring her to the AMISOM troops. She was finally released on the 10th August after having been kept inside the barracks for nearly 2 days.