Somali minister walks out on journalists over question on Somalis allegedly fighting in Tigray

GOOBJOOG NEWS|MOGADISHU:   Information Minister Osman Dube (pictured) walked out on journalists Sunday evading a question on the alleged involvement of Somalis military trainees under Eritrean command in the ongoing conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region.

Dube who has taken to issuing several statements including one at 2 am on national television last month took off mid-way a reporter’s question on the widespread reports that the Eritrean trained Somalis were fighting the war alongside Eritrea and Ethiopia federal forces.

‘SEVERAL’ KILLED

Multiple reports and claims by lawmakers and security analysts have emerged in the past week alleging ‘several’ Somalis had been killed and others injured after they were deployed in Tigray under the command of the Eritrean military.

Former National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) deputy director Abdisalam Guled told Goobjoog News last week he had obtained intelligence that the Somali trainees were involved in the fighting and that ‘several’ of them had been killed.

But the Federal Government denied the claims noting that no Somali was fighting in Tigray.

Parents who have variously spoken to the media have demanded answers from the Federal Government over the whereabouts of their children. Families who spoke to Goobjoog News from 2018 said their sons had been promised jobs in Qatar but did not hear from them again.

Senior security officials later intimated to Goobjoog News that the youth had been taken to Eritrea for military training. Several others have since been recruited in subsequent years but there is no word about their return.

The Lower House Foreign Relations Committee wrote to Farmaajo last week demanding answers on the whereabouts of the youth.