At least 60 African peacekeepers have been killed and 200 injured in Somalia over the last three years, the African Union Mission in the country has said.

The peacekeepers, according to a statement issued by Amisom last week, continue to operate under a hostile environment in Mogadishu because of regular attacks on them by Somali rebels.

"That problem has been compounded by the complex and multi-faceted nature of the conflict and the fluid nature of the actors," the statement said.

The statement was issued in preparation for a conference on confidence-building for Amisom which will open today in Munyonyo, near Kampala.

The attacks

Somali rebels in September attacked and killed 17 peacekeepers including the deputy force commander, Maj. Gen. Juvenal Niyoyunguriza. However, Amisom which was mandated in 2007 to support the Transitional Government of President Ahmed Sharif Ahmed said it has managed to bring the warring parties to dialogue and facilitated the provision of humanitarian assistance to civilians.

The estimated 5,000 African peacekeepers comprised of Ugandan and Burundian forces are thin on ground with a shortfall of 3,000 forces. Amisom says the Somali mission is not popular in Uganda and Burundi, the two contributing countries, because of "lack of sufficient information" about the mission, and "negative publicity" on the attacks and killings of peacekeepers. Critics in Uganda have accused the government of fighting a war that has no local bearing, a charge that the government disputes.