The president of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, urged common citizens to assist in driving out the Al-Shabaab terrorist organization, which he referred to as “bedbugs,” on Thursday.
At a protest against extremists affiliated to Al-Qaeda that the government organized and was held in a stadium in the capital city of Mogadishu under strict security, Mohamud was addressing sizable crowds.
“I’m calling to you, the people of Mogadishu, the kharijites (renegades) are amongst you… so flush them out. They are in your houses, they are your neighbours, in cars that pass you by,” he said.
“I want us to commit today to flushing them out, they are like bedbugs under our clothes,” he added, as demonstrators waved flags and placards with anti-Al-Shabaab messages.
For 15 years, Al-Shabaab has waged a brutal insurgency against the weak central government that is supported by the international community, carrying out attacks both in Somalia and in neighbouring nations that have sent soldiers to assist in the fight against the extremists.
“The people are tired of massacres, killings, and all kinds of misdeeds and they are now saying to Al-Shabaab: ‘Enough is enough’,” Mohamud said.
Shortly after taking office in May of last year, the president proclaimed “all-out” war on Islamist fighters.
In an operation supported by US airstrikes and an African Union force, the army and local clan militias have recently reclaimed swathes of land in the country’s centre.
But despite the offensive, the militants have regularly responded with brutal attacks, demonstrating their capacity to hit at the core of Somali cities and military outposts.
Al-Shabaab is still well-established in some rural areas of central and southern Somalia despite having been driven out of Mogadishu and other major urban centers more than ten years ago.
