Somali National Army boss: Eritrean-trained soldiers will join offensive

Somali government will deploy thousands of Eretria-trained soldiers to fight al-Shabaab in southcentral Somalia, Somali National Army boss.

SNA Chief, General Odawa Yusuf Rageh said the return of the Eritrean-trained Somali soldiers will greatly CONTRIBUTE the current military campaign against Al-Shabaab.

General Odawa stated that he had faith in the SNA’s ability to dismantle IEDs.

The development comes days after the first batch of several thousand Somali troops that were sent to Eritrea for training in 2019 and 2020 arrived back in Mogadishu.

Minister of Defense Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur said the return of the troops is good news for Somalis because these troops will be deployed in the fight against militant group al-Shabab.

“Our first batch of troops who were in Eritrea for training arrived today, and the remaining soldiers will arrive in the coming days to join the fight against the militant group known as Khawaarij,” he said.

The federal republic president has traveled twice to Eritrea in his efforts to speed the process of bringing these troops back to their homelands.