Abdirahman Mohamed Farole, the Puntland President (dark glasses) at a previous meeting with Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Gas
President of the semi-autonomous Somali region, Puntland, Abdirahman Mohamed Farole has called on Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) forces and Kenyan troops battling Al-Shabaab rebel group in parts of Lower Juba to speed up their efforts to wrest control of the port city of Kismayo.
President Farole who spoke at the 21st meeting of the International Contact Group (ICG) on Somalia in Djibouti on Monday said that Al-Shabaab still continues to hold strategic areas in Somalia including the port cities of Kismayo and Merka, in Lower Jubbah and Lower Shabelle regions, respectively.
He further said these ports and nearby airports in Baidoa and Bali-dogle towns, serve as Al-Shabaab’s cash flow, adding they must be liberated in a coordinated effort between troops from the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), neighbouring countries and Somali forces. He also called for more rapid progress towards liberating the port city of Kismayo in order not to avail time for terrorists to regroup and have a morale boost to launch attacks across Somalia and around the world.
The Puntland President added that there should be more rapid movement towards regional towns under the control of Al-Shabaab, with particular emphasis on towns with airport and port facilities. He said by doing this the Al-Shabaab fighters will be cut off of supply of funds, arms and fighters. He however, cautioned the Kenyan forces to avoid collateral damage during military operations in southern Somalia.
Kenyan troops have lately been accused of bombing areas inhabited by innocent civilians in Southern Somalia as they fight off the Al-Shabaab though the forces, through their spokesman Col Cyrus Oguna, have denied this and termed it a propaganda used by the group to win sympathy.
Meanwhile the president of Somalia’s TFG Sheikh Sharif Ahmed announced on Monday that his government is planning to open at least 100 schools in the capital Mogadishu to enhance the educational system. “I would like to announce that my government is struggling to establish 90 schools which will teach young and older people of Somalia after the collapse of the Siad Barre regime for more than 21-years ago,” President Sharif who toured Mogadishu’s Hamar-weyne district where TFG authorities have been evicting Internally displaced persons (IDPs) from government buildings, was quoted as saying by the Somali press.
