Somali Gov’t Ready for Talks with Al-Shabaab- President Mohamud

GOOBJOOG NEWS|OSLO: Somali government is ready for negotiations with the militant group Al-Shabaab, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has said, but noted the group was not ready for such a move.

Speaking during a public forum in Oslo, Switzerland, President Mohamud said the Somali government was ready for the talks at any time.

“We believe that the end game with Al-Shabaab is through negotiations. When is when they are ready. We were ready yesterday, the day before yesterday,” President Mohamud said.

“We hope that they will be ready for that. When they are ready, we will discuss. The negotiation may take time, but at least we will create a new path,” continued the Somali president.

He noted however, that Al-Shabaab must first ‘change its behaviour’ to give room for dialogue. He noted that there were no indications at the moment that the group was ready for talks.

The question of dialogue between the Somali government and Al-Shabaab has been a dicey issue with different administrations carefully approaching it. The current administration is currently in a close to two-year war with al-Shabaab in the central regions eliminating several fighting and key leaders in addition to recovering vast territories.

However, the tempo has reduced in recent months. National Security Advisor Hussein Ali told Goobjoog News in a recent interview that the operations were slowed down by the el-nino rains.