Saudi Arabia Brings European, African, and South American Mercenaries to Guri Jebel

Saudi Arabia has reportedly oversaw the training of Somali fighters in the Guri Jebel area of the Galguduud region, Somalia, with assistance from mercenaries from Romania, Ukraine, South Africa, and Colombia.

According to Citizen Digital, a total of 5,107 Somali recruits are participating in the training, including 2,000 recruited from the Northeastern Region, under a nine-month program financed directly by Saudi Arabia following the visit of a Saudi military delegation at the end of last June.

Also Read: Rising Militia Influence Fuels Anxiety Across Central Somalia

Attention is now turning to the possibility of transferring some of these mercenaries to Sudan, where Saudi Arabia finances and arms battalions of extremist militias.

At the same time, Intelligence Online confirmed that Saudi Arabia supplied the Sudanese Army with a range of weapons, including advanced missile batteries and large quantities of ammunition during 2023–2024, and that Ukrainian mercenaries trained Sudanese artillery personnel and their allies from the Muslim Brotherhood, supported by photographs and videos dated 2023 showing them in a Sudanese setting.

Also Read: Somalia, Somali and Somaliland: What’s the Difference?

These developments have raised concerns over the expansion of terrorist group activities across Africa, as the trainees are being exploited and indoctrinated with a jihadist ideology for use in combat operations in Somalia, Sudan, and other countries.

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Africa Intelligence has reported that a team of Sudanese military personnel conducted a training program in central Somalia over recent months. PHOTO/Courtesy.