Somalia will talk to Al-Shabaab when time is right says Hassan Sheikh

• Somalia’s new President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud says his government will only negotiate with Al-Shabaab when the time is right.
• The Al-Qaeda affiliate responsible for deadly attacks across East Africa
• He said cutting off Al-financial Shabaab’s flows and countering their hateful message must be combined with a military approach.

Somalia’s new President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, putting an end to Al-violent Shabaab’s insurgency will require more than a military approach, and his government will negotiate with the extremist group only when the time is right.

He claimed that the Al-Qaeda affiliate responsible for deadly attacks across East Africa had developed a “coping mechanism” in response to military aggression and could not be defeated militarily.

Al-Shabaab has been seeking to overthrow the foreign-backed government in Mogadishu for over a decade and remains a potent threat despite efforts to defeat them militarily.

Mohamud, who was elected in May after previously serving as president from 2012 to 2017, said past approaches to Al-Shabaab had not worked, and his government was open to alternatives including talks when appropriate.

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“We are not right now in a position to negotiate with Al-Shabaab. We will, at the right time,” Mohamud told a think tank during a visit to Turkey this week.

“Even now… we open the door for those who want to denounce the violence, the extremist ideologies, and join the mainstream life in Somalia.”

Al-Shabaab fighters were driven out of Mogadishu in 2011 by an African Union force but the group still controls swathes of countryside and the capacity to launch frequent and deadly strikes on civilian and military targets.

Mohamud said containing the militants in Somalia and degrading them militarily — the two key policies of past Somali administrations backed by foreign partners — had not proved enough on their own.

Al-Shabaab had “developed a coping mechanism so that even if their facilities are destroyed, they have the capacity to re-establish it again” and return to the battlefield, he said.

According to the former academic and peace activist, cutting off Al-financial Shabaab’s flows and countering their hateful message must be combined with a military approach to combating the extremists.

Shortly after his election, Mohamud welcomed US President Joe Biden’s announcement to redeploy American troops to Somalia, reversing Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw most US forces from the fight against Al-Shabaab.

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