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Somalia seeks weapons to fight Al-Shabaab

May 12, 2017 at 12:41 pm

Somalia’s President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo in Moghadishu, Somalia on 16 February 2017 [Sadak Mohamed/Anadolu]

The Somali president urged the international community to lift an arms embargo as government forces are ill equipped to battle Al-Shabaab, Al Jazeera reported.

In a conference on Somalia help in London yesterday, President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed said the Somali army are fighting Al-Shabaab with “AK-47s” and “light weapons” which are inadequate. The president claimed he could defeat the group in “a few years” if the national army was equipped with “heavy weapons”.

Read: UN: Further $900m needed for Somalia crisis response

Human rights groups have warned against lifting the UN Security Council embargo initiated in 1992, as a flow of arms will lead to indiscriminate targeting of civilians.

Meanwhile, Somalia is on the edge of intense drought, with lack of water and livestock. Communities have been subject to Al-Shabaab handouts, a strategy by the group to win over the hearts and minds of the Somalia people, Critical Threats has warned.

The UN is seeking to provide $900 million for Somalia, to prevent 1.9 million people from dying due to lack of basic health services.