President Hassan Sheikh finds Somali soldier missing for years

Earlier reports put the number at close to 7,000, with the UN saying last year that Somali troops were spotted in Axum, fighting along with Ethiopian and Eritrean forces during the war against TPLF.

News Keydmedia Online
10 July 2022

ASMARA, Eritrea - For the first time in three years, the faces of 5,000 soldiers missing in Eritrea have been seen after president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud paid a rare visit to their training camps on Sunday.

Mohamud accompanied by dictator Isaias Afwerki and other top officials met the troops who were stuck in Eritrea’s southern hilly bases for months after completing 3-year rigorous military training.

The Somali president told the soldiers that they will soon be brought back to Somalia to take part in the planned military operations against Al-Shabaab. Hassan Sheikh is on the 2nd day of his visit to Eritrea.

It is not known why the soldiers were not returned upon finishing their training. Some reports indicate that the Eritrean government demanded an estimated $ 5 million it claimed spent on them since 2019.

Last month, the former president Mohamed Farmajo announced during the handover of power to Hassan Sheikh that 5000 soldiers who ended their training were ready in Eritrea for return to Mogadishu.

Farmajo who lost in May 15 election failed to airlift the troops to Somalia and left the office while the country was in the middle of a crisis. He left behind a bad legacy that will last for years.

Earlier reports put the number at close to 7,000, with the UN saying last year that Somali troops were spotted in Axum, fighting along with Ethiopian and Eritrean forces during the war against TPLF.

Intelligence sources in Ethiopia said some of the Somali soldiers were killed in the battle while others were captured alive and taken as prisoners of war by the Tigray rebels.

Last month, Abdikarin Ali Kaar, the spokesman of the Somali presidency said several soldiers died during the training in Eritrea amid growing calls by parents for the return of their sons recruited by Fahad Yasin after luring them with fake jobs in Qatar.

KEYDMEDIA English