BBC (Horn Services) reported that President Mohamoud visited Somali soldiers who have been receiving training in Eritrea for the last three years.
The Somali President who flew in to Asmara last Saturday (9 July 2022) for a four day state visit, paid a visit to the thousands of Somali armed forces who, according to experts, were secretly deployed to Eritrea during the start of the Tigray conflict.
It is to be remembered that the Ethiopian Federal Government spearheaded the invasion of Tigray in Nov 2020. Eritrea joined the invasion to support its Ethiopian ally; and subsequently, brought in thousands of Somali soldiers to assist in the war effort.
ERI-TV, Eritrea’s government media, is currently reporting President Mohamoud’s visit. Last night ERI-TV reported for the first time the existence of thousands of Somali soldiers in Eritrea.
It reported both President Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea and his Somali counterpart visited the Somali military camp in Eritrea, labelling the visit as ‘graduation of the Somali forces that have been receiving training in Eritrea for the last three years’.
In the report, the President Mahamoud is heard congratulating his forces for completing the training after the military parade. It was also reported the graduates will work to ascertain a strong and united Somalia.
When the civil war in the north erupted, the TPLF leadership publicised the fact that Somali forces were engaged in the conflict alongside Eritrea during the incursion. The Eritrean and Somali governments have been rebuffing the accusation as untrue all along.
[Last year in June, the UN special rapporteur Mohamed Babiker discussed the presence of Somali troops in Tigray – an issue that added another dimension to the continuing conflict and growing humanitarian crisis.]
Last May, President Mohamed Abdulahi Formaggio, the former Somali president, disclosed the fact that 5000 Somali soldiers were sent to Eritrea for training during the transition ceremony. He also mentioned that ‘due to unruly circumstances that emerged in the region’ the soldiers did not return to Somalia.
It was reported that the head of Somalia’s parliamentary committee on foreign affairs last year asked Mohamed Formaggio to investigate complaints that some of the nation’s troops went missing while fighting in Ethiopia, and many of them may have died in clashes there.
During the last couple of years many Somali parents have been raising the issue regarding the whereabouts of their children.
Horn Relations
On 5 Sep 2018, the leaders of Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia, formed a tripartite front to combat problems in the region.
The Tripartite Agreement, formally titled the Joint Declaration on Comprehensive Cooperation Between Ethiopia, Somalia and Eritrea, states that given their “close ties of geography, history, culture and religion as well as vital common interests” and “respecting each other’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity”, the three countries agree to cooperate and “build close political, economic, social, cultural and security ties”, coordinate to “promote regional peace and security” and establish a Joint High-Level Committee to coordinate the implementation. The agreement was signed in Asmara on 5 September 2018 by Abiy Ahmed, prime minister of Ethiopia, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed (Farmaajo), president of Somalia, and Isaias Afwerki, president of Eritrea.
The ERI TV report left many questions unanswered. No mention was made of the actual nature of the ‘three year-long’ military training, why the Somali and Eritrean and Ethiopian governments kept the ‘training’ as secret until recently, the much reported (on international media) ‘role of the Somali soldiers in the Tigray conflict’.
This is horrific confirmation of unofficial reports that seemed to make little sense. And it adds a new dimension to the crimes that have been perpetrated in Tigray.
How and why did Somalia allow itself to be sucked into sacrificing its youth on the table of other countries’ leaders ruthless ambitions?!?!! In the name of “training”??!!?? Why should any Somali parent ever again allow their children to join their country’s military, when so many have been used as canon fodder in other countries’ unjust war???
The deceipt the Somali leadership has perpetrated on its own people is reminiscent of George W Bush’s lies about Iraq supposedly having nuclear weapons. But at least he didn’t try to say that US troops would be going on “training exercises” in a different country!!!
There is no single Somali soldier TPLF captured as prisoner of war.TPLF aggressed Somalia in early 2017.TPLF should give apology the genocide former committed in Mogadishu.
There no Somali Solders invoved in the anti terrorist TPLF operation started by TPLF instigated Tigray conflict in November 2020
But there are credible sources backed by Wiki leaks and HRW that Amisom Forces including TPLF led ENDF have used Rape as Weapon in the War on Somalia after the Invasion of Somalia by TPLF led Ethiopia
Issayas Afwerki uses various cards in every stage of the political arena to make himself visible and a player. He lost his tripartite plan of action to destroy the Tigray leadership, minimize the role of the Tigrayans in Ethiopian politics, and enact his grandiose plan of integrating Ethio-Eritrean politics under his leadership. He trains/produces oppostion fighters from neighboring countries to pressure neighboring states to comply with his actions, and later becomes the broker in the deal making for peace with their respective opposition forces. The danger doesn’t end there. From among these trained fighters, he recruits future agents to destabilize the neighboring states by infiltrating their security apparatus. The Somali government has to deligently scrutinize and debunk these returnees against Trojan horse effects. After his current visit to Eritrea, the Somali president must run away with his compatriot youth army and never engage with Isayas again. The missing role in these game is the absence of an alternative leadership in Eritrea that the Eritrean people, and it’s political forces for change must actively, and tiresly strive to fill in the vacuum.
The Somali President has walked into a trap. He should not have traveled to Eritrea without a clear understanding on what he was going to get out of it. The Eritrean president is a convening killer who seems to live by devouring the blood of the youth of the region. Isaias played him like a fiddle!
Isais has been given a lifeline; he is going to mount on this horse and gallop back to relevance in the region. The Somali youth who were trained in Eritrea will be a threat to Somali peace and unity. I am sure he has recruited many to act as spies for him and Formaggio. This army is a coup threat.
The Somali leader’s visit and the MOU and the fact that he returned empty-handed will put him on the spot and maybe his well-intended visit will backfire.
a triumvirate of evil!
The three dictators of HORN OF AFRICA who are messing up the region finally exposed and particularly the naked fascist of Eritrean leader. This is the way how he play his political game; mafia style and illegal/criminal activities for the last 31 years since the Independence of Eritrea. He is a jack of all trades and master of none. He is everything; a nation without Constitution; never held election since Independence. The so called ministers you see them once in while on ER.TV aged sitting in a meeting with their boss taking notes as if they are school children listen to him whatever he says no questions asked; and for that matter the people never saw them discussing issues. What a disgrace for the nation. After all most of them they don’t deserve to be ministers they call them good for nothing.
The 5000 Somali soldiers has exposed the Eritrean fascist; these soldiers were as they say in Eritrea for training for 3 years . What a bachelor degree program - “Military Science” in Eritrea that is laughable? Young Eritrean aged 16 and 17 years old were picked up from Asmara and other cities streets and sent to fight in Tigray. Thousands died in the civil war of Ethiopia for nothing just because the illegal government of Eritrea had a deal with Ethiopia and Somalia war against Tigray.
The New Somalia President had a pressure from the brave Somali Mothers asking him bring our children from Eritrea. This time the Eritrean Fascist as he always does there are no Somali Soldiers in Eritrea and he adds where is the prof/ show me the facts. He got trapped and his original plan was to send 5000 Eritrean Soldiers before the Somali election either to vote for his “comrade” ex-president Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Formajo or peace keeping. What a peace keeping? Like the fake peace agreement with Abiy. The Eritrean fascist does not know what peace is. Eritrea is at war with all neighbor countries for the purpose of dismantling Eritrea and young generations for his hidden agenda. The hidden agenda finally came out in 2018 under the fake agreement with Abiy Ahmed that led to war against TPLF/TIGRAY. The rest is history both of them lost the war and the Somali soldiers were sucked to the war and so many died. Today, another drama/ joke that the Eritrean Fascist invited the New Somali President for the graduation of Somalia soldiers. Where have they been for the last 3 years?. May be underground Adi Hallo as security officers. They showed on ER.TV marines get trained by fishing boats.
What is he going to do once the 5000 Somali soldiers drama came out the whole world to see? The one thing that came out of this is the participation the 3 nations in the war together against Tigray. The crime that was committed against innocent people of Tigray by these forces should be investigated at the international court. This could be the beginning of the end of The Eritrean Fascist.