Young Somalis deceived into Eritrean army by Qatar

The apparent secret recruitment of young Somali men for a fighting force in Eritrea is stirring public anger in Somalia, a poor country where opportunities to work abroad are eagerly sought. Protests erupted last week in the capital Mogadishu and in the towns of Guriel and Galkayo over the missing recruits.

Somali government spokesman Mohamed Ibrahim and Information Minister Osman Dube did not respond to requests for comment on the Somali government's apparent role in the recruitment.

Somali men are forced into Eritrean army under impression they were signing up for security jobs in Qatar. Three families told Reuters their young sons had officially been recruited by Somalia's government to work in Qatar, only to later find out they had been sent to Eritrea and forced to serve as soldiers.

Hussein Warsame said his son Sadam, 21, had been recruited for a security job in Qatar in October, 2019. Nothing was heard from him for more than a year. Finally, last November, he phoned from Eritrea.

"We were all shocked to land in Eritrea. We thought we were being flown to Qatar," he quoted his son as telling him. "Dad, there is no life here, I have not seen food save a lump or slice of bread since I left Somalia in 2019, and when recruits demonstrate or reject orders, a bullet is the reply."

Ali Jamac Dhoodi, 48, told the news agency he thought his son was working as a security guard in Qatar to help prepare for next year's football World Cup. But he said he was later told by Somalia's National Intelligence Agency that his son had died in Eritrea.

Others said their sons, who had originally been sent to Eritrea for military training, were sent to fight in the Ethiopian civil war. Mothers have led rare protests in the capital Mogadishu demanding to know where their children had been sent, and some lawmakers have written to Somali president Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo asking for information.