Al-Shabaab is a cancer, will not be defeated by gun alone, says Somalia president

MOGADISHU, Somalia - While acknowledging significant steps made in the fight against Al-Shabaab, Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud maintains that the group cannot be defeated by guns alone, arguing that the change of tactics has yielded results.

In an article penned in one of the online sites, Hassan Sheikh, under whose tenure the country has intensified the crackdown against Al-Shabaab, said the country will focus on ideological education besides starving the militants of their illicit funding.

"Al-Shabaab will not be defeated by the gun alone. We must use military force, corrective ideological education, and starve them off their illicit financing," the president said. "I reiterate my call to the Somali people to have faith in our collective efforts and to bravely resist cooperating with Al-Shabaab in any shape or form, regardless of the cost."

Already, the president has warned businesses against falling to the extortion tricks of the militants, noting that those found culpable will have their business licenses cancelled. The militants use extortion as a shortcut to get finances for operations.

Al-Shabaab, Hassan Sheikh argues, is the most " existential threat to the gradually recovering Somali state". The group has been in operation for the last 16 years and has managed to control several parts of Somalia, mainly in the central and southern parts of the Horn of Africa nation.

"Al-Shabaab has made it their standard operating procedure to kill, maim, extort, and rob the Somali people of their hard-earned sources of livelihood and property, " noted Hassan Sheikh, whose efforts to defeat Al-Shabaab could pull a surprise Nobel Peace Prize victory.

For Somalia to stabilize, Hassan Sheikh said, citizens should continue with mobilization and fight back to liberate their country. He acknowledges that the recent uprising of clan militia has buoyed the fight against Al-Shabaab, with the country recording significant gains.

Thousands of Somalis have taken guns against Al-Shabaab while defending their country alongside the national army, US Africa Command and the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia [ATMIS]. The teams have downed over 300 militants in just two weeks.

"This group is cancer in our system, and we must respond with our collective might to challenge and defeat them once and for all," added the president. "If we do not do this, Somalia's future and the welfare of the coming generations will be bleak."

Giving hope to thousands of civilians, Hassan Sheikh maintained that he feels rejuvenated with the recent happenings, adding that defeating Al-Shabaab has now become a reality. He lauded the unity existing among locals in the Horn of Africa nation.

"Since the fight against global terrorism began in Somalia in 2007, there has never been a time when I felt more hopeful about defeating Al-Shabaab than I am now. That is because, today, we are united, energized and determined to secure a better future for our nation," he said.

Al-Shabaab militants have been killing innocent civilians, senior government officials and military officers in the country with impunity, but a spirited right from various groups has made it possible to tackle their influence in several parts, where they have lost control.

GAROWE ONLINE