President Hassan Sheikh visits Eritrea, takes stock of Somali recruits

As part of his efforts to widen Somalia’s international relations, President Hassan Sheikh Moxamud during his four-day tour in Asmara assessed a number of Somali Army Brigade in Eritrea military barrack where they completed training.

The president’s visit to the army training barrack in Eritrea solved a long standing puzzle of whether Somali nationals were being sent to train in Eritrea or possibly fought alongside Ethiopian troops in Tigrey’s war. There had been myriads of denials from the sides of the Somalia presidency during Farmajo’s regime against the allegation of missing young Somalis predicted to have been sent to fight in Ethiopia.

Reports surfaced from different quarters indicate that around 5,000 cadets were taken to Eritrea for military training in 2021. Their parents staged protests in Mogadishu saying Somalia’s federal government recruited their sons for jobs in Qatar, only for them to surface in Eritrea, where they were sent for military training against their will.

The UN Human Rights Council in their statement alleged that Somali soldiers fought alongside Eritrean forces that crossed the border into Ethiopia to fight the rebel Tigray Peoples’ Liberation Front (TPLF). The Somalia Presidency at the time, denounced the accusations.

However, the appearance of Somalia’s new president photographed with trained Somali soldiers at a parade on Saturday solved the entire riddles as the two leaders were seen at the training ground of thousands of Somali youth recruited under the administration of Farmaajo. The trained soldiers could be deployed to liberate parts of Somalia still controlled by the Al Shabaab group who has been carrying out attacks on government and civilian targets over the past few decades.