Eritrean-trained Somali soldiers to start arriving in Mogadishu

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Thousands of Somali soldiers training in Eritrea will start arriving in the country this month, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has confirmed, barely a month after his second trip to the Red Sea nation, in what would effectively end the political debate surrounding the clandestine training.

In a pre-recorded video, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who was on the frontline calling for their repatriation when he was in the opposition, said the first batch will start arriving this month while the last cohorts will enter the country by the end of January in 2023.

Records obtained from the government indicate that there are close to 5,000 soldiers in Eritrea who were secretly flown out of that country for clandestine training. So secretive was their training that reports about their whereabouts only emerged when their disgruntled families blamed the government for their "disappearance".

"We are strengthening our armed Forces and the group in Eritrea will start tripping this month," said President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. "We are confident that they have obtained requisite training and they will help those fighting the enemy [Al-Shabaab] across the country. They need our support."

The president added: "We thank Eritrea for joining other friendly nations in helping us with capacity building in our defence forces and this is something we don't take for granted at all. We are optimistic that by the end of January, all of them will be in the country in their various formations."

When he took over from his predecessor Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud visited Eritrea in June when he was taken around the training camps. The special forces are trained in three batches; infantry units, the navy and the air force, which are critical components of the army.

For over three decades, the Somali National Army has been operating without a functional Air Force and Navy, but the gap will be bridged soon when the cohorts arrive in the country. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud also visited the troops in November where he promised them reparation.

Reports indicate that the former administration of Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo had initially told the youthful trainees that they were to go to Qatar, only for them to land in Asmara under unclear circumstances. Eritrea President Isaias Afwerki has been reviving cooperation within the Horn of Africa.

At some point last year, a UN special rapporteur to Eritrea compiled a report which indicated that Somali soldiers training in the country with their Eritrean counterparts crossed over to the Tigray region in Ethiopia where they engaged in mass murder. The governments of Ethiopia, Somalia and Eritrea termed the claims as "baseless innuendos".

Their return is expected to supplement ground troops who have been fighting alongside the US Africa Command, the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia [ATMIS] and the local militia in the war against Al-Shabaab. Many militants have lost their lives in Lower Shabelle and Middle Shabelle regions.

GAROWE ONLINE