MOGADISHU (Somaliguardian) – A committee appointed by Somalia’s prime minister Mohamed Hussein Roble last month to probe missing recruits sent to train in Eritrea has ceased working due to pressure from the outgoing president and his intelligence chief.
The team was denied access to information about thousands of youths sent to train in Eritrea by the president’s office and the spy agency. There were reports that Asmara also declined a request by the committee to visit camps where some of the youths are being held after completing training.
Eritrea is holding thousands of Somali youths in what families described as “slavery conditions” due to unpaid funds for their training. Qatar, which had previously pledged to pay cash for the training, later refused to deliver on its promises, according to Caasimada Online website.
Members of the committee, who are still in Mogadishu have not yet met with parents, officials and institutions where the information regarding the whereabouts of the missing recruits might have been obtained. Some officials within the team were called for secret meetings at president Farmajo and spy chief’s offices.
Somalia’s opposition and parents of missing youths earlier rejected the prime minister’s move to appoint the team, comprising ministers involved in the recruitment of the youths and called for assigning an independent committee to establish an investigation into the matter.
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