FINAL PUSH” AGAINST THE AL-SHABAAB IN SOMALIA

The President His Excellency Dr. William Ruto and the Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces today Wednesday 01 February 2023 graced the Summit of Heads-of-States and the government of Somalia’s brotherly neighboring countries in Mogadishu under the Chairmanship of H.E. Dr. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, President of the Federal Republic of Somalia.

The Summit was convened in the wake of the ongoing targeted and sustained campaign by the Somali Security Forces aimed at degrading the capability of the terrorist groups. The operations are directed at diminishing the operational capability of Al -Shabaab and building on the rejection of the terror group by the Somali public.

The High-level meeting reviewed the conclusions of the conclave of Ministers of Defence and Chiefs of the Defence Forces of the neighboring Frontline States on the importance of coordinated and timely technical, logistical, intelligence and operational support to the ongoing anti-terror operations along with the Somali National Army.

During the summit, the leaders agreed to make the final push for joint operations in the areas that remain under the terrorists to completely liberate the whole of Somalia from Al-Shabaab to facilitate the drawdown of ATMIS troops and the gradual handover of security responsibilities to the Somali security forces. They applauded the significant progress made in Somalia with more regions recovered by the Somali security forces in conjunction with ATMIS troops. They were all in common agreement on the progress made to rebuild and modernize Somalia’s security forces through unified efforts of force generation, capability development, and support with firepower and multipliers.

In the discussions with the Head-of-States, the Somali Government sought to obtain both lethal and non-lethal support to equip the newly-generated SNA units and to enhance the firepower capabilities of current SNA operational units and endorsed Somalia’s quest to completely lift the arms embargo by the end of 2023.

The Summit comes at a crucial moment when the security forces in Somalia continue to liberate more areas that have been under Al-Shabaab to enable the federal government to enhance its service delivery and extend its authority. They emphasized the importance of establishing a joint border security mechanism to eliminate cross-border terrorism activities and ensure the legal passage of trade and movement.

Finally, the brotherly neighboring Head-of-States acknowledged the federal government of Somalia’s request for full commitment and support of the neighboring Troop-Contributing Countries (TCCs) to significantly participate in the current Somali National Army (SNA) forces-led operations across the sectors, to defeat and destroy the terrorist group.

The Summit was attended by His Excellency Ismail Omer Guelleh, President of the Republic of Djibouti, and His Excellency Dr. Abiy Ahmed Ali, the Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia among other leaders.