Somalia: Farmajo accused of "selling" soldiers to fight against TPLF in Tigray

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Outgoing Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo has yet again come under pressure over a number of youths reportedly training in Eritrea, following reports that they may have participated in the Tigray war which left thousands dead in Northern Ethiopia.

A report filed by UN Rapporteur to the Red Sea nation suggested that Somali soldiers training in Eritrea were sighted in Axum with the Eritrea army as they crossed over to Ethiopia. The team is said to have carried out mass murder in the Tigray region.

With the devastating information now dawning reality on Somalis, a number of opposition leaders now want the government to take responsibility by accounting for the missing youths, whose exact number is yet to be established due to sketch information from the government.

Immediate former President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud claimed the soldiers training in Eritrea may have been "sold" to Eritrea in a clandestine deal, adding that the government leaders should speak publicly about the whereabouts of the missing boys - dead or alive as part of truth-seeking.

"I tell the former President Mohamed Farmajo and his team you cannot hide the fact of the youth sent to Eritrea from the people of Somalia anymore," said Sheikh Mohamud, who is one of the leading presidential candidates in the upcoming elections.

"The leaders are the ones who face the people and tell them the truth even if it is bitter. Bring back the boys," added the former president, arguing that the government owes parents of the missing soldiers' answers for the sake of peace and stability.

Garowe Online reported extensively on the matter since it surfaced, with many debates and discussions on Twitter space inviting politicians, MPs, ex-security minister and officials, including Senator Abshir Ahmed and Abdisalam Guled who is familiar with this case that touched every Somali.

Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, another former president, also asked the government to take responsibility by furnishing the public with information on the whereabouts of the youths, who are believed to have gone to Eritrea in 2019 following an agreement between Mogadishu and Asmara.

"We call for an independent investigation into the whereabouts of these young people and urge the government of Somalia to respond to the calls of the parents of the missing children," Sheikh Ahmed reacted to the UN report on Somali soldiers fighting in Tigray.

Investigations done by various independent media houses indicate that the young soldiers were visited by Farmajo in Eritrea sometime last year. The report comes amid reports on gross violation of human rights in the Tigray region where Eritrea soldiers are said to have participated directly.

GAROWE ONLINE