Munich: Somalia’s president on Sunday said military forces have made inroads in their fight against Al Shabab militants but the key to defeating them lies in providing better opportunities for the country’s youth.
President Hassan Shaikh Mohammad said 70 per cent of his country’s population is under 35 and have grown up in the chaos of a lawless state after the government collapsed in 1991. That, he said, has left them “very, very vulnerable to be recruited by the evil forces” like Al Qaida-linked Al Shabab.
Mohammad said many of those fighting for Al Shabab “are not there for ideological reasons, they are there for economic reasons ... to feed their families.”
Somalia faces regular Al Shabab attacks even after driving them from the capital, Mogadishu, in 2011.
