Ugandan soldier captured by al-Shabaab shown in video

By Mohamed Adam

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AA) - The al-Shabaab group in Somalia has released a video showing a Ugandan soldier held prisoner for over a year, pleading for his government to act to free him.

The video shows a soldier in a Ugandan military uniform, urging the president of Uganda Yoweri Museveni and his government to set him free from the al-Qaeda-linked militant group.

“Oh Ugandans, I am a soldier of your country, join hands and come up with a solution that can secure my release,” he said in Swahili in the video released late Monday.

He said in the video he was captured in September 2015 in an al-Shabaab attack on an African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) base in the southern Lower Shabelle region.

The soldier identified himself in the video as Masassa M.Y., an AMISOM serviceman since June 2015.

“Please don’t abandon me here,” he added.

Al-Shabaab militants claimed the September 2015 attack in Janale had killed over 50 Ugandan forces in Somalia. One soldier was reported to have been captured.

Over 20,000 African Union troops are stationed in Somalia to participate in the fight against the militant group.