First batch of Eritrea-trained Somali troops return to Mogadishu

Defense minister Abdiqadir Mohamed Nur, who spoke to the media, said that the soldiers will inject new blood into the ongoing war in the country, noting that they will join the liberation operations.

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First batch of Eritrea-trained Somali troops return to Mogadishu

MOGADISHU, Somalia – The first plane carrying Eritrea-trained Somali soldiers touched down at Mogadishu airport on Wednesday amid an all-out military offensive against Al-Shabaab in the country.

Their arrival came days after president Hassan Sheikh said the long-missing 5,000 troops will start returning to the country this month, adding that the last soldier expected to leave Eritrea in January.

Joyful parents lined up outside the Aden Abdulle International airport to welcome back their sons who have been away for 3 years.

Defense minister Abdiqadir Mohamed Nur, who spoke to the media, said that the soldiers will inject new blood into the ongoing war in the country, noting that they will join the liberation operations.

The youths were recruited from different regions without the consent of their parents by Fahad Yasin, a former intelligence chief who lured the teenage schoolboys with promises of jobs in Qatar in 2019-2020.

They ended up in Eritrea training camps and underwent clandestine training until their story surfaced on social media after a former spy official disclosed, they were deployed to Tigray to fight against TPLF.

At the handover ceremony in May this year, former president Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo first announced that five thousand soldiers trained in Eritrea were ready to be returned to Somalia.

Their homecoming was delayed due to the political and election crisis in Somalia, said Farmajo as he handed over the file of the soldiers to his successor Hassan Sheikh, who won reelection in May.

KEDYMEDIA English

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