Tuesday July 6, 2021
MOGADISHU (HOL) - Somali opposition has called for the resignation of President Mohamed Farmaajo over multiple reports that Somali nationals who were on military training in Eritrea were deployed to fight in Ethiopia’s Tigray region.
The Council of Presidential Candidates (CPC), a loose umbrella of 15 presidential candidates demanded in a statement Tuesday the resignation of Farmaajo adding the outgoing leader should be barred from holding any public office in future.
The CPC noted that the Federal Government has gone quiet over the issue of the military trainees. Prime Minister Mohamed Roble appointed a task force last month in response to the issue but there has been no word yet.
The demands by the opposition follow growing pressure on Farmaajo to come clean on the matter. His administration last month dismissed claims the trainees were fighting in Tigray.
A UN Human Rights Council report last month noted Somali nationals were fighting in Tigray while some had been spotted in the historic city of Aksum.
Parents whose sons were taken to Eritrea in a clandestine mission by the Federal Government have protested severally demanding answers from the government.