Men ‘tricked into fighting in war’
ALI JAMAC Dhoodi thought his son was working as a security guard in Qatar, helping prepare for next year’s soccer World Cup. Then one day last April, officials from Somalia’s National Intelligence Agency arrived with $10 000 (R151 000) in cash.
They told him his son had died – not in Qatar, but in Eritrea, one of the world’s most secretive countries. They gave him the money, and told him not to ask questions.
Ali’s son was one of three young Somali men whose families said they 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. Two other families said their sons had simply disappeared.
The apparent secret recruitment of young Somali men for a fighting force in Eritrea is stirring public anger in Somalia, a poor country where opportunities to work abroad are eagerly sought. Protests erupted last week in Mogadishu and in the towns of Guriel and Galkayo over the missing recruits.
Reports that Eritrean forces have taken part in fighting that broke out
in November last year in northern Ethiopia – which Eritrea and Ethiopia strongly deny – have led some Somalis to worry their sons may have been sent there. Asked if Eritrea had recruited Somalis, trained them or sent them to Ethiopia, Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Meskel said: “There is massive disinformation floating around.”
Somali government spokesperson Mohamed Ibrahim said no Somalis had been sent to Ethiopia.
The leaders of Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea have been drawing closer together since 2018, after a change of leadership in Ethiopia. Ethiopia and Eritrea, once arch enemies, signed a peace deal and have high level visits. Somalia – which once accused Eritrea of supporting Islamist rebels – now has friendly relations with its president.
Hussein Warsame said his son
Sadam, 21, had been recruited for a security job in Qatar in October, 2019. Nothing was heard from him for more than a year. Finally, last November, he phoned from Eritrea. “We were all shocked to land in Eritrea,” he quoted his son as telling him. “Dad … when recruits demonstrate or reject orders, a bullet is the reply.”
Eritrea, a heavily militarised society, has never held elections, has no independent media and forces its citizens into indefinate government service. Former guerrilla leader Isaias Afwerki has been president since 1993.
A regional security analyst said he had learned that about 1 000 Somalis had been recruited and taken to Eritrea in at least three groups. One group had returned to Somalia, the second group was unreachable and the third was still in Eritrea.