Bereaved mothers of young Somali National Army (SNA) soldiers who were killed in the Tigray conflict staged protests in Galkayo on January 18.
The mothers grieved the deaths of their young sons who were recruited and sent to Eritrea in a covert operation in 2020.
The grieving mothers were trained in Eritrea before being thrust into the Tigray War.
According to the mothers, close to 700-1,100 young boys had been recruited in this manner.
Eventually, they participated in last year’s conflict in Tigray where they fought alongside Eritrean and Ethiopian troops against the rebel forces in the region.
The mothers expressed their anger against the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) for this.
Their protests took place a few hours after a former Deputy Director of the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) made these revelations.
Abdisalam Guled, the former NISA Deputy Director, said on January 18 that over 370 young soldiers from Somalia had been killed in Tigray.