Somali President Comments on Security

The Somali president in London on Feb. 4, 2013. Credit: UK Foreign Office, source: c-r.org

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud spoke on 2 February 2013 with Sally Healy, a fellow at the Rift Valley Institute in Kenya. The focus of the conversation was on Somali security. Mohamud admitted that security remains a serious problem in Somalia. Somali forces are weak, untrained and ill-equipped. There are also problems of discipline and loyalty.

Mohamud has become more circumspect about dialogue with al-Shabaab, perhaps influenced by continuing al-Shabaab attempts to assassinate him. He emphasized that he wants nothing to do with the "core, hard extremist team that leads Al Shabaab, who say that Somalia is a country the belongs to all Moslems. We are totally against that." He also said the foreign military forces still inside Somalia and international forces patrolling Somali waters to contain piracy cannot continue.

Click here for a summary of Mohamud's remarks.