Tuesday January 3, 2023
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud visited General Gordan military base on Tuesday, which houses the Eritrean-trained recently repatriated to Somalia.
The newly trained forces were instructed by President Mohamud, who had just reviewed the columns of soldiers, to be ready for conflict with Al Shabaab in the near future.
"The Somali people and I welcome your homecoming. We are mobilizing to confront the enemy as of right now. We want the next operation to finish quickly and free the remaining territories faster than the past campaigns."
The Somali President thanked the Eritrean government for its support in training the soldiers. President Mohamud made two trips to Eritrea in 2021 to facilitate the repatriation of the recruits. During one of these
visits in mid-July, Somalia and Eritrea
signed a seven-point MoU furthering cooperation in several key sectors, including trade, investment, water security, agriculture, fisheries, health and education.
The first group of the 5000 Eritrean-trained recruits
arrived at Mogadishu's Aden Adde International airport on December 21. The Somali government has not confirmed the exact number of recruits repatriated.