MOGADISHU (Halbeeg News) – Somali president Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo should resign from the office for risking lives of Somali national army (SNA) recruits who allegedly participated in Tigray conflict, Somalia’s Council of presidential candidates said Monday.
In a statement, the opposition accused president Farmaajo of misleading the nation about the fate of SNA recruits transport to Eritrea for training.
“The government led by the outgoing president Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo has failed to share information of the missing recruits with public,” the statement reads in part.
The council which brings together about 12 presidential candidates said the outgoing leader should be barred from holding any public office in future.
“The current government lied the parent and recruit. The recruits were initially informed that they will be taken to Qatar to be trained as security officer for the upcoming 2022 world cup which is expected to take in Qatar,” the council said.
The Somali trainees have been undergoing training in Eritrea following a clandestine transportation to the Red Sea nation by Somali government.
Parents of the recruits have variously lamented the whereabouts of their sons most of whom left home unceremoniously in 2018.
Abdisalam Guled, former deputy spy chief in Somalia had last January claimed that several hundreds of Somali soldiers had been killed in the ongoing battle in Ethiopia’s Tigray region.
He called for an independent investigation into the alleged participation and killing of Somali trainee soldiers in the Tigray battle.
A UN Human Rights Council report last month noted Somali nationals were fighting in Tigray while some had been spotted in the historic city of Aksum.
But Somali government dismissed the allegations that Somali soldiers took part in the Tigray fighting.
Prime Minister Mohamed Roble appointed a task force last month in response to the
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