AXADLE, Northeastern State – A young soldier allegedly trained in Eritrea was killed in the town of Afgoye, 30 km northwest of Mogadishu, a few weeks after escaping from Eritrea, where he had been “smuggled” for a training by the Somali authorities.
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Abdulmalik Abdullahi Haji, in his twenties, succumbed to injuries sustained from a knife attack, sources said, following a minor argument with a friend in town. He has since been buried.
Abdulmalik was among thousands of Somali boys lured into bogus jobs in Doha, but sent to Eritrea, where he is said to have trained with nearly 5,000 others. The Somali government, through the spy agency NISA, airlifted them to Asmara in three batches, according to information obtained by Garowe Online.
Reports indicate that the slain young soldier, who did not complete his training, managed to escape with five other people from the training camp in mid-June, around two years after their controversial enlistment in the camp, in the hope of joining the Somali National Army. [SNA].
Upon arrival, Abdimalik and his colleagues told the media about the alleged difficult training conditions in Eritrea, as they were constantly tortured. “Some of us have been executed,” Abdulmalik said during the interview in Garowe.
However, a number of state officials close to outgoing President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo called Abdimalik’s version of the story “null and void”, with some insisting that his claims were “false. typical news “aimed at spoiling the reputation of the Somali government.
Even after the protests in Mogadishu against missing youth, it took a few days for the government to admit that indeed soldiers were being trained in Eritrea. Information Minister Osman Abukar Dubbe confirmed, adding that “there is nothing more serious than this”.
The young people reportedly traveled to Tigray in Ethiopia, where they reportedly assisted the Ethiopian national defense forces. [ENDF], Eritrean troops and Amhara regional forces to “execute” innocent civilians on the pretext of suing the Popular Front for the Liberation of Tigray [TPLF] otherwise known as the Tigray Defense Forces [TDF].
A report by the UN special rapporteur in Eritrea confirmed the information, noting that Somali troops fought in Axum, a holy city in northern Ethiopia. However, Mogadishu has consistently dismissed the allegations as “disinformation”.
Several reports indicate that the remaining Somali soldiers training in Eritrea could return home in a few months after completing the biometric check, before being officially drafted into the Somali National Army.
The opposition believe incumbent President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo is keen to use poll-rigging, a claim Villa Somalia has denied. Their parents put pressure on this government to give all the details on the fate of the young soldiers.
ONLINE AXADLE
