Dubbe trained in training “missing” Somali soldiers in Eritrea as investigation underway
MOGADISHU, Somalia – Somali Information Minister Osman Abukar Dubbe was dragged to the missing young soldiers, who are presumably training in Eritrea, although the government makes no commitment to explain their whereabouts.
Investigations by Axadlefound that nearly 5,000 young soldiers were smuggled into Eritrea in 2019 for training, with reports revealing that they were promised to be taken to Qatar. They were taken to Eritrea in three batches.
And the issue is now becoming topical in Somalia, following reports that soldiers may have fought in the Tigray War, which has been widely condemned by members of the international community. The UN special rapporteur in Eritrea made the conclusions in his report.
In a video that has circulated widely on social networks, Osman Abukar Dubbe, the Minister of Information, is sentenced by a mother to one of the recruits, during an interview with the BBC Somali Service. According to her, the minister is wrong to link them to the opposition.
Earlier statements by the minister pointed to the opposition for allegedly “abusing” mothers. A number of these parents staged protests in Somalia, demanding to know the whereabouts of their children.
But according to the woman, her fate has nothing to do with the opposition and the government, adding that “I’m just a little person who sells vegetables to make ends meet.” She asks the Minister of Information to refrain from “distorting information to our detriment”.
The woman further demands to know the whereabouts of her child who she says “didn’t even tell me when they left, we found out months later”. She is one of hundreds of parents seeking similar answers from President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo’s administration.
Last week Dubbe accused politicians of politicizing training in Eritrea, arguing that such incidents deserve “supreme national secrecy”. He insisted that the continued engagement in this matter was “quite dangerous” and risked endangering the country’s national security interests.
“In many countries, politicians avoid discussing bilateral defense and security issues or military issues because it is considered a top national secret,” he said. “Unfortunately, our Somali politicians have made politicizing our forces a dangerous pastime.”
In his speech, Dubbe, a close associate of Farmajo, noted that no Somali soldier had fought in Tigray, captured in Tigray or engaged in fighting in the holy city of Aksum. He added: “Eritrea is training our forces as well as our friendly countries which are participating in the reconstruction and strengthening of our Somali forces.
On the strength of the reports of the UN special rapporteur, the Somali parliament is almost adopting a bipartisan approach to the issue, if one can trust the efforts of Senator Abshir Ahmed. Ahmed, who had pledged to show solidarity with parents, met other deputies on this subject on Monday.
“As I communicated last week, I am leading a team of Senators and Members of Parliament for an open session with parents whose children have been sneaked into Eritrea for alleged military training. The session now opens at Mogadishu: I will keep you posted on the outcome of the meeting, he said in a tweet.
Reports obtained by the United Nations also indicated that the National Defense Committee had asked President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo to set up a task force to investigate the incident. It is believed that the soldiers will return home after the biometric registration.
AXADLETM
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