Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud said - during an interview with Al-Jazeera - that the government in Mogadishu had adopted a military, intellectual and economic strategy to fight the "Mujahideen Youth" movement, and confirmed that this strategy achieves its goals.
He explained - in his interview with a special meeting program - on (3/6/2023) that the problems in Somalia are linked to each other, and therefore work is being done to target solving major problems, especially the issue of security, by fighting the "Al-Shabab" movement.
He said that Mogadishu would not accept to be an arena for any proxy war, and stressed that the war against the "Al-Shabaab" movement achieves its goals thanks to a multi-pronged strategy that does not depend on military confrontation alone. He also stressed that his country weaves its relations with its neighbors and partners in accordance with its interests and not for the sake of enmity. Any other country.
In order to confront the "Al-Shabab" movement, Sheikh Mahmoud pointed out that the solution to the problem is not based solely on the military aspect, "because this method did not bear fruit." Rather, a strategy was developed that included 3 pillars, the first of which was the military aspect as it was used in the past, then the ideological dimension, because (elements Al-Shabab present themselves as a religious movement based on Islam.
In the religious context, the President stressed that what unites the Somali people is the Islamic religion, and therefore the government is working to mobilize scholars to show the people that the behavior of this movement is not from Islam at all.
As for the third pillar on which the government intends to fight the movement, it is the economic aspect, by drying up the financial sources of the movement, explaining that the financial sources of the "youth" are mostly local, as they work to sow terror and fear in rural areas and collect money from the people through intimidation, but they consider it - Any elements of the movement - “donations for jihad” and other justifications for financing the movement.
Ready for dialogue
Sheikh Mahmoud also expressed his readiness for dialogue with the "Al-Shabaab" movement, but on the condition that their conditions be agreed upon, noting that the majority of these are Somali youth and they have no other country, stressing his desire to be part of a peaceful society.
He pointed out that everyone who abandons the ideology adopted by the "Al-Shabaab" movement is welcome to integrate into Somalia, stressing that Mogadishu is not against those who belong to the movement, but it is fighting to eliminate the ideology they adopt.
He also made it clear that Somalia is living in a post-conflict situation, as the transition has taken place from a failed state to a fragile state and its institutions are weak. Because of this weakness, he explained that there is a lack of good management of public money, indicating that Somalia cannot combat corruption without strong global financial institutions. , such as the Bank and the International Monetary Fund to make financial management better.
Sheikh Mahmoud stressed that Somalia will not give up the Palestinian issue for any reason, although there is acceptance of certain principles such as a two-state solution.
However, he considered that the current situation is not acceptable, calling on Israel to change its strategy in the Palestinian territories.