Somalia’s government has said that the al-Shabaab terrorist group has requested the beginning of negotiations amid the military offensive that the country's army has launched against the extremists, calling it an "all-out war."
“Al-Shabab has requested negotiations with the Somali government, but there are two groups within al-Shabaab. The first faction consists of foreigners, and the second is comprised of local Somalis. The locals have a chance to open up negotiations, but the foreigners who invaded our country have no right to engage in talks,” Deputy Defense Minister Abdifatah Kasim said while addressing the media in Mogadishu.
The deputy defense minister highlighted that negotiations are possible with the faction which consists of locals, while for foreigners there is only one option - "to return to where they are from." He added that the government is "ready to receive" Somalis who want to surrender. In this case, they should follow the government’s instructions and gradually reintegrate with their society. Otherwise, they will "face the Somali National Army in the front lines."
This is the first time the terrorist group has sought an open dialogue with Somalia’s federal government. However, there has been no immediate confirmation of this from al-Shabaab itself.
In September, Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud during his visit to the US stated that the al-Shabaab militant group is not willing to negotiate, while the government is open for a dialogue.
"We believe that al-Shabaab will not end with the barrel of gun, but they are not ready to negotiate. So we have to take them to a place where they prefer to negotiate and lay aside the lethal tactics that they are using right now," he said.
The al-Shabaab jihadist movement has been fighting against the Somali government since the mid-2000s. The group, which has managed to seize control over some parts of Somalia, is also active in other countries of the Horn of Africa, including Kenya, Ethiopia, and Djibouti.
The Somali president was elected in May last year, and several months later announced an "all-out war" on al-Shabaab following another terror attack. Since then, the country’s armed forces along with troops of the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) have intensified military operations against the terrorist organization.
However, since the beginning of the offensive the attacks carried out by the group haven't stopped. In October, at least 121 people were killed and over 300 injured in the deadliest attack in Somalia since 2017. The two car explosions took place in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, near the education ministry at the Sobe junction. The site was the same junction that saw an al-Shabaab truck bombing in 2017, which resulted in over 500 deaths.
In November, al-Shabaab militants attacked the Villa Rose hotel in Mogadishu, reportedly killing at least four people. The latest terrorist attack in Somalia occured in the Hiran region in the central part of the country, as at least 20 people were killed in two simultaneous suicide car bombings. But no group has yet claimed responsibility for the terror act.
*Al-Shabaab and Al-Qaeda are terrorist organizations outlawed in Russia and other countries.