This follows allegations that the youth are being recruited into Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government’s military.

The claims arose a few days after the United States Government said unemployed Somali youths were being targeted for recruitment by the Al-Shabaab rebel group.

The Al-Shabaab, alongside other militia groups, has been fighting to oust the fragile Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, which is supported by the US and other Western powers.

Garissa Mayor Mohamed Gabow claimed recently he had personally witnessed the recruitment.

Military training

The Parliamentary Committee on Defence and Foreign Relations has taken up the matter and is expected to report back to the House after the investigations.

Chairman of the committee Adan Keynan told Daily Nation the committee will be investigating who in Government authorised the recruitment exercise.

It was claimed that the youths were first being taken for military training at Manyani Paramilitary Camp in Mombasa.

Some parents who alleged that their sons had already been recruited, raised the alarm. They said that more than 300 youths aged between 18 and 30 had secretly been recruited in six locations of Garissa District. The Ministry of Defence has, however, denied the reports.

North Eastern provincial commissioner James ole Serian dismissed the claims as rumours.

Kenya National Commission on Human Rights northern region official Hassan Abdille Abdi said they had received many complaints from locals on the hiring and urged the government to come clean.

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Source: Daily Nation