Tuesday August 24, 2021
General Odawa Yusuf Rage (L) and General Berhanu Jula (R) during a meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on August 24, 2021. SUPPLIED
Mogadishu (HOL) - Somalia's military chief, General Odawa Yusuf Rage, met with his Ethiopian counterpart, General Berhanu Jula, in Addis Ababa on Monday to discuss security cooperation between the two East African neighbours.
Ethiopia is a troop-contributing nation to the AMISOM mission. At one point, it provided 4395 uniformed personnel before being forced to withdraw thousands of troops in mid-November when Ethiopian federal soldiers began fighting forces loyal to the TPLF from the northern region of Tigray.
According to the ENDF and the SNa, the two commanders discussed the AMISOM mission and strategies to defeat Al-Shabaab.
General Rage thanked Ethiopia for being a security partner and commended Ethiopia's role in the war against Al-Shabaab.
General Jula said that Ethiopia would continue to assist in supporting Somalia.
It is not apparent if the two discussed the ongoing conflict in Ethiopia or a damning report released by the UN human rights council in early June that alleged that the Somali army fought in Tigray alongside Eritreans troops at the behest of Ethiopia.
The document cited credible reports that Somali soldiers who were supposed to be training in Eritrea were taken to the frontlines in Tigray. The report including accounts that Somali troops were present in Aksum, where a massacre of hundreds of civilians are said to have taken place in late 2020.
Somalia has flatly denied the accusations, despite a growing number of parents calling on the government for answers on the whereabouts of their children.