By Zakaria Hassan - Reporter
Ethiopia, 15 June 2026 – ONLF faction backing Ethiopia’s Somali Region administration accused former members of recruiting vulnerable youths in Puntland.
Mohamed Sheikh Badri, head of political affairs for the ONLF faction, told a news conference in Jijiga on Sunday that the targeted youths had been working in Bosaso, Garowe and other parts of Puntland before being approached with promises of jobs, salaries and travel abroad.
Badri said the youths were labourers from Somali region who had gone to Puntland to look for work to support their families.
He accused former ONLF members based abroad of trying to recruit the youths in the name of the organisation, saying those individuals no longer represent the ONLF.
Badri said the former members misled the youths that they would be taken to Qatar for work, but “the real purpose was to mobilise them for wrongful activities.”
“The youths were rescued,” Badri said, adding that they had been saved from being misused.
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He said the youths were now in the custody of security authorities, and that talks were under way with their parents and officials in Somali Region to return and reintegrate them.
Badri said his faction remained committed to the 2018 peace agreement between the ONLF and the Ethiopian government, and that it was no longer an armed front but now operates as a political party.
“We are no longer an armed front,” he said, adding that his faction supports peace, stability and security in the Somali Region.
He urged youths, former ONLF members and supporters of the group to avoid being used for political purposes that could destabilise the region.
The ONLF faction also called on the Somali Region administration to create jobs and reintegration programmes for vulnerable youths and former members of the organisation to prevent political groups from exploiting them.