Somali president meets with his Eritrean counterpart, Isaias Afwerki

GOOBJOOG NEWS|ASMARA: President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and a delegation led by him arrived in Asmara, Eritrea, Saturday afternoon, where they were accorded a beautiful reception by President Isaias Afwerki.

The two leaders held their first official meeting last night, where they discussed a range of bilateral issues of common interest to both countries.

During his four-day official visit to Eritrea, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud will visit a Somali National Army training camp where more than 5,000 Somali youth have completed training. The training of the soldiers was dogged by controversy after some of them escaped citing pathetic conditions.

The controversy deepened further after the parents of the soldiers reported to have been misled into thinking their sons had been recruited by Somalia’s federal government for jobs in Qatar, only to surface in Eritrea, where they were sent to serve in a military force against their will.

The Somali government confirmed last week that some of the soldiers died during training and that there were plans to bring them home.