Somalia’s newly appointed minister for Defense, Hassan Ali has vowed to wage new offensives against Al-Shabab.
The country’s army with the support of African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) has been fighting Al-Shabab since 2007 during the Transitional Federal government.
Ali assumed the office of the ministry on Wednesday during a handover ceremony held in Mogadishu.
Speaking at the event in Mogadishu, Ali said his ministry was drafting a plan to launch new operations to recapture Al-Shabab controlled areas.
The minister pointed out that the needs for the country to implement a well-defined plan to defeat Al-Shabab.
He said Somali forces will soon carry out operations to smoke out Al-Shabab fighters from the country.
“We will make sure to liberate the towns and villages controlled by Al-Shabab fighters. With the support of AMISOM, our forces will soon launch major offensives to rid of Al-Shabab from the regions,” said Ali.
The minister urged Somali government partners to help the country in the process to rebuild Somali National Army.
“We appeal our friends to support us establishing our army in order to take security responsibility of our nation,” he urged.
He commended the countries help Somalia training its forces.
“We thank African Union Mission in Somalia and the government of Turkey for helping to rebuild our forces,” he said.
Discussion about this post