MOGADISHU (SD) – Somalia pledged to probe alleged missing Somali national army (SNA) recruits after teary eyed parents marched in the streets of Somali capital, Mogadishu.

In a statement, Somali Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble appointed a high-level government commission of inquiry to investigate complaints by the parents.

Defense Minister Hassan Hussein Haji, Interior Minister Mukhtar Hussein Afrah and Army Chief of Staff Odawa Yusuf Rageh are among those selected to be on the commission.  

The appointment comes days after irate parents took to the streets to protest against alleged deployment of their children in Ethiopia’s Tigray region.

They were demanded the government disclose the whereabouts of their sons who were taken to Eritrea for military training.

Early this month, a UN report claimed that Somali soldiers who were airlifted to Eritrea for training had fought alongside Ethiopian forces during the conflict in Tigray region of Ethiopia.

The UN Rapporteur report on the human rights situation in Eritrea said the Somali trainees were picked from their camps and taken to the battlefield in Tigray.

The report adds credence to various allegations that President Mohamed Farmaajo, who is a member of a Horn of Africa alliance bringing together Ethiopia’s Abiy Ahmed and Eritrea’s strong man Isaias Afwerki okayed the deployment of the troops to Eritrea.