TPLF official claims ‘3000 Somalis’ fighting in Tigray

GOOBJOOG NEWS|TIGRAY: Three thousand Somali troops are fighting in the Tigray region, a senior TPLF official has claimed, affirming earlier reports that Somalis who were undergoing military training in Eritrea were deployed to the war front in Ethiopia.

Berhane Gebrekristos, the head of the TPLF delegation abroad said in an interview with BBC Tuesday evening multiple forces had invaded Tigray warning of genocide and war crimes in the northern Ethiopian region.

“There has been a massive invasion of Tigray by multiple forces; the Ethiopian Defence Forces, Eritrean Defence Force, the Somali, 3,000 troops from Somalia, proper Somalia, Republic of Somalia and the UEA drones and technology and Amhara militia,” Gebrekristos said.

Somali government has since denied that Somalis were deployed in Tigray but the UN and senior politicians in Somalia have indicated Somalis were fighting alongside Ethiopia and Eritrean forces in Tigray.

“The Special Rapporteur also received information and reports that Somali soldiers were moved from military training camps in Eritrea to the front line in Tigray, where they accompanied Eritrean troops as they crossed the Ethiopian border,” the report released in June read in part.

The Somalin trainees were also present in the historic city of Aksum, the report noted.

Berhane Gebrekristos who previously served as Ethiopia’s ambassador to the US and Deputy Prime Minister said the Tigray region was facing an ‘existential issue’.

“This is a small region that has been invaded literally by an international force. There has been genocide that has been committed, there has been massive war crimes, massive rape and so on. Tigrayians are resisting to survive; this is an existential issue.”