F. Achouri AMISOM says report claiming soldiers assaulted girls as young as 12 and traded food aid for sex « unbalanced and unfair ».
Internationally funded African Union troops in Somalia have gang-raped women and girls as young as 12 and traded food aid for sex, Human Rights Watch, the US-based rights group, says. 
The 22,000 AU force, called AMISOM, with soldiers drawn from six nations, have been fighting alongside government troops against the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab fighters since 2007.
« Some of the women who were raped said that the soldiers gave them food or money afterwards in an apparent attempt to frame the assault as transactional sex, » HRW said in a report on Monday.
AMISOM said the alleged rapes were « isolated » incidents and called the report « unbalanced and unfair ».
The vulnerable women largely came from camps in the capital Mogadishu, having fled rural Somalia during a devastating famine in 2011.
AMISOM donors include the EU and the US.
The AU soldiers, « relying on Somali intermediaries, have used a range of tactics, including humanitarian aid, to coerce vulnerable women and girls into sexual activity », the report read, based on testimonies of 21 women and girls.
« They have also raped or otherwise sexually assaulted women who were seeking medical assistance or water at AMISOM bases. »
The youngest interviewed was aged just 12, who said she was raped by a Ugandan soldier.
‘Much larger problem’
Several of the women described how they had gone to the AU camp seeking medicine for their sick babies.
« The findings raise serious concerns about abuses by AMISOM soldiers against Somali women and girls that suggest a much larger problem, » HRW said.
However, Burundian General Silas Ntigurirwa, AMISOM’s commander, said the report documented « allegations of isolated cases of rape », and that his troops were given strict orders against raping and looting.
Eloi Yao, AMISOM spokesman, said the « allegations will be properly investigated and measures taken ».
Only in two cases had the women who spoke to HRW filed police complaints, because they « feared stigma, reprisals from family, police, and the Islamist insurgent group al-Shabab ».
The cases investigated by HRW involved troops from Burundi and Uganda.
HRW said the AU force needed to end the abuses carried by its troops.
« The AU military and political leadership needs to do more to prevent, identify, and punish sexual abuse by their troops, » Daniel Bekele, HRW Africa head, said.
AMISOM troops last month launched a major offensive aimed at seizing key ports and cutting off an important source of revenue for the fighters.
Aljazeera
