MOGADISHU (Somaliguardian) – Residents in the Somalia town of Bulaburde have complained about new heavy handed tactics and restrictions introduced by Djiboutian troops, who are part of the African Union peacekeeping mission in the country.
Troops have recently called local businesspeople and intellectuals to their headquarters and threatened that they will face severe consequences if they convey their complaints on media over increasing pressure on residents. Djiboutian troops in the town often exercise electricity and telecommunications shutdowns that have to some extent crippled local economy.
On Friday, AMISOM troops from Djibouti rejected Bulaburde bound aircraft to land at the town’s airport to airlift a critically ill patient to the capital, Mogadishu. Troops told residents that they were off-duty on the day and were busy on washing their clothes.
A local official has told Somaliguardian that in a similar instance, a flight carrying national examination papers had been denied a landing permission at Bulaburde airport earlier this year and that heavily armed Somali government troops later entered the airport to ensure safe-landing of the plane.
Violent and heavy-handed behaviors of Djiboutian troops against residents in Bulaburde have been gradually increasing since the town was retaken from Al-Shabaab armed group early in 2014.
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