Somali’s Ambassador to Kenya Muhamad Ali Nur has said the situation in his country is “very severe” and has consequently appealed for help from the international community.
Speaking during an interview with Kenya’s privately-owned KTN TV at the Somali embassy in the capital, Nairobi, Nur said: “The situation is very severe. We have humanitarian crisis. People are dying daily. People are being displaced, going out of the cities.
“Al-Shabab group who are fighting against the government are not peace-loving people. The are fighting the government. They don’t want peace. The government always welcomed Somali parties and groups to participate in the peace process. Al-Shabab actually – they are the ones who are really indiscriminately killing people. They are the ones responsible for the displacement of people and that is why we have appealed to the international community to enable countries to come and support us. We need nation building” he said in the interview.
“The hospitals are very overwhelmed with injured people, kids especially, young women who are really injured by the shelling of these Al-Shabab groups who are shelling indiscriminately to civilian people”. he added.
Responding to a question as to whether a military intervention was now necessary, he remained evasive saying, “I think apart from that, Somalia needs capacity building. The Somali forces need to be helped. We have now AMISOM [AU Mission to Somalia] troops who are helping peacekeeping forces in Somalia, but on top of that I think the international community need to reassess, re-evaluate, re-help, help again, the Somali forces who will be able to bring peace and stability to Somalia”.
He was asked whether the recent US arms shipment would be of any help. His response:
“I think it will. I think the transitional federal government is a legitimate government and the US is a friendly country who came to help of the plea that we have asked to help us. Well, as we all know that Al-Shabab have been assisted by other countries who do not want peace. For example, Al-Shabab, have been getting assistance by weapons and ammunition from Eritrea, and that is a well-known fact. I think we welcome the assistance we are receiving from the USA.”
He said his government had warned both Kenya and Ethiopia to beef up security along their borders with Somalia. “Some of the border sides in Somalia, for example in Kenya and Ethiopia, we have some Al-Shabab forces around that area. And we have told the Kenya government and the Ethiopian governments to beef up the borders so that foreign fighters or the Al-Shabab fighters will not enter into Kenya and destabilize Kenya”.
By Abdinasir Mohamed
Mogadishu-Somalia
