2 Quit Army in Italy’s Somalia Troop Scandal

ROME — Two generals who headed Italian forces on a U.S.-led peacekeeping mission to Somalia resigned Saturday over allegations that their troops tortured, sexually abused and killed unarmed Somalis.

The office of the army chief of staff said Gens. Bruno Loi and Carmine Fiore asked to be replaced “to ease and speed up the investigations underway” into the allegations of grave misconduct in the Horn of Africa nation between 1992 and 1994.

The army chief of staff “accepted the request in order to contribute with the maximum determination to the rapid clarification of this affair,” a statement said.

In Bologna, Prime Minister Romano Prodi, who announced a full inquiry Friday into the torture allegations by newsmagazine Panorama, hinted Saturday that there might be further developments in government efforts to investigate the scandal.

Prodi told reporters that there would be “a solution in a short time.” He gave no details.

Panorama published graphic reports and photographs of alleged abuses by Italian troops on the 1992 U.S.-led humanitarian mission to Somalia, shocking Italians and embarrassing the army.

The reports, which include purported sexual violence against a Somali woman and allegations that Italian soldiers killed unarmed civilians, spurred the government on Friday to set up a joint civilian and military commission to assess the scale and extent of “deviant behavior” among the armed forces in Somalia.

Loi commanded Italian troops in Somalia until the end of August 1993, when he was replaced by Fiore, who then led the Italian forces until their withdrawal in early 1994.

Loi said in a statement that he was very bitter about what he called a “defamatory campaign,” but he added, “I have decided to put myself at the full disposal of the chief of staff with the aim of easing and speeding up the work of the commission.”

Soldiers of other nations, including Canada and Belgium, have been accused of committing human rights violations and even murder during the Somali mission.