MOGADISHU (Somaliguardian) – Somalia’s opposition called for a law banning the incumbent president Mohamed Abdullahi from holding public office for life due to his role in hundreds of youths deployed in Ethiopia’s Tigray region to take part in a conflict far away from their country’s borders.
In a statement issued on Monday, it accused the president Mohamed Abdullahi Farmjo – better known as Farmajo of ordering the deployment of hundreds of Somali youths as cannon fodder in the war-hit northern Ethiopian region and of turning a blind eye to the calls by parents, whose sons are missing, for information on their whereabouts.
It comes days after a senior US State Department official said Somali soldiers were present in Ethiopia’s north after completing training in neighboring Eritrea, corroborating a UN report issued last month indicating presence of Somali troops in the embattled region.
“The Council of Presidential Candidates [a conglomerate of opposition leaders] calls on the president whose term ended, who is still willing to run for second term in elections to admit he has failed in office and failed to protect the national constitution,” statement reads.
“1. He should resign from the office he is holding illegally 2. Somali public should bar him from running for president again 3. Farmajo should be banned from holding public office for life,” it added.
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