Parents in Somalia struggle to find their sons feared killed in Ethiopia

MOGADISHU, Somalia - A number of parents of missing Sons met with Galmadug security minister Ahmed Moalim Fiqi on Thursday, days after it was alleged the cadets may have been killed in the Tigray region conflict, which saw Ethiopian troops locking horns with the TPLF.

At Galkayo, the parents who have raised questions about the whereabouts of their children held a meeting with the regional security minister, where they demanded to know if their children were dead or alive from the authorities.

They submitted a list of 30 recruits secretly taken to Eritrea by the Somali Government for training in 2019-2020, and who are yet to be located to date, until it emerged that Somali soldiers may have been deployed to Tigray to fight alongside Ethiopia National Defense Forces [ENDF].

It's alleged that trainees were killed in the Tigray conflict where they had gone to help the Ethiopian National Defense Forces. The Ethiopian government had declared internal war against TPLF, which had attacked the Northern Command.

A section of MPs serving in the Foreign Affairs Committee has written to President Farmajo demanding to know the whereabouts of the soldiers. The government, through the ministry of information, denied claims that the Somali soldiers were involved in the conflict.

Dinah Mufti, the spokesperson of Ethiopia's Foreign Affairs ministry, said the information about the Somali soldiers was "misleading and false". Also, she insisted that the Eritrean troops did not take part in the war, which saw thousands of people killed.

Somalia has been the major beneficiary of security partnership with Ethiopia. Over 4,000 Ethiopian AMISOM troops guard several sections of Somalia and the latest news could jeopardize the relationship if at all it's confirmed that Somali troops died.

GAROWE ONLINE