Security forces
Eritrea and Somalia: sanctions, the 2018 thaw and the recruits trained in Eritrea
The UN Security Council placed sanctions on Eritrea in 2009 after accusations that it supported armed groups in Somalia, including al-Shabaab; UN monitors later reported for four mandates in a row that they had found no conclusive evidence of such support, and the sanctions were lifted on 14 November 2018. From 2019 about 5,000 Somali recruits were sent to Eritrea for military training. Their families protested in 2021, and a UN report alleged some had gone into Ethiopia's Tigray war, which Somalia denied. The first of them returned to Mogadishu on 21 December 2022.
In short
Eritrea's role in Somalia's conflicts has changed sharply. In the 2000s it was accused of supporting armed groups in Somalia and was placed under UN sanctions. After Eritrea made peace with Ethiopia in 2018 it became a partner of Somalia's federal government and trained thousands of Somali recruits. This page records what the sources report. It is part of Foreign forces in Somalia.
Sanctions, 2009 to 2018
The UN Security Council imposed an arms embargo, travel bans and asset freezes on Eritrea in 2009 after accusations that it supported armed groups, including Somalia's al-Shabaab; Eritrea called the accusation baseless (UPI, 14 November 2018). In its 2017 report the UN Monitoring Group wrote that it had looked into allegations by "a neighbouring Member State" of Eritrean support to al-Shabaab and had received some corroborating information, but that "for its fourth consecutive mandate" it had "not found conclusive evidence of support provided by Eritrea to Al-Shabaab". Eritrea's foreign ministry had denied sending arms to Somalia, and its UN mission denied "any engagement with Al-Shabaab" (UN Monitoring Group on Eritrea, S/2017/925, summary and paras. 29–30). After Eritrea and Ethiopia signed a peace agreement in July 2018, the Security Council unanimously lifted the sanctions in resolution 2444 on 14 November 2018. Somalia's president, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo, said the region was "swiftly progressing towards partnership and economic cooperation" (UPI, 2018). See UN Monitoring Group on Somalia.
The recruits trained in Eritrea, 2019–2022
From 2019 Somali recruits were sent to Eritrea for training, the first group in secret (VOA, 21 December 2022). Families said their sons had been recruited under false pretences, and protests began in Mogadishu and other towns in January 2021 (The New Arab, Reuters, 19 July 2022). One father, Bashir Sheikh Ali, said: "Our son was very young and he was told that he was going to Qatar for training"; he said the family had had no contact since (Anadolu Agency, 10 June 2021).
The Tigray allegation. In June 2021 a UN human rights report, citing "credible sources", said Somali trainees had crossed the Eritrean border with Eritrean forces into Ethiopia's Tigray war. Somalia's information minister, Osman Dubbe, said: "No Somali soldier is fighting in Tigray." Anadolu reported that the government confirmed the troops were in Eritrea for training (Anadolu, 2021), while Voice of America reported that the ministry denied that troops were trained in Eritrea and fought in Tigray (VOA, 10 June 2021). VOA Somali later said it had found no evidence that Somali soldiers were deployed to Tigray (VOA, 2022). The New Arab reported that a Somali intelligence officer investigating the case was killed (The New Arab, 2022). This was Ikran Tahlil Farah of the intelligence agency, who a former NISA director told VOA may have held records on the programme; see NISA.
Return. After Hassan Sheikh Mohamud became president in 2022 he visited the soldiers in Eritrea. His spokesman, Abdikarim Ali Kar, said: "They are 5,000 soldiers who were missing and now found," and denied that they had been held against their will (The New Arab, 2022). The first group landed in Mogadishu on 21 December 2022. Defence Minister Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur said they would fight al-Shabaab, and they were held at a secure part of the airport before going to an undisclosed base (VOA, 2022). See Somali National Army.
Sources differ
- Training in Eritrea, 2021. The government confirmed it (Anadolu) or denied it (VOA's account of the same briefing).
- Tigray. A UN human rights report alleged Somali trainees took part; Somalia denied it; VOA Somali found no evidence.
- Support to al-Shabaab before 2018. Accusations by a neighbouring state led to the 2009 sanctions; UN monitors found no conclusive evidence in four mandates up to 2017.
Read the primary sources yourself
- UN Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea, report on Eritrea, S/2017/925 (2017): PDF.
- Voice of America, "First batch of Somali troops trained in Eritrea arrives home" (2022): article.
- Anadolu Agency, "Somali parents take to streets over missing army recruits" (2021): article.
Sources
- UPI, 14 November 2018 · upi.com
- UN Monitoring Group on Eritrea, S/2017/925, summary and paras. 29–30 · documents.un.org
- VOA, 21 December 2022 · voanews.com
- The New Arab, Reuters, 19 July 2022 · newarab.com
- Anadolu Agency, 10 June 2021 · aa.com.tr
- VOA, 10 June 2021 · voanews.com
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