Somalia’s President to meet US Secretary of Defense

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud – who will be in the US for the UN General assembly – is set to meet the US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin at the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, to discuss American engagement in Somalia.

The meeting subsequently follows increased US presence in Somalia following the abrupt withdrawal of US troops by then-President Donald Trump in late 2020.

In mid-May, President Biden authorized the deployment of approximately 500 troops to Somalia, in a push to reestablish a small but persistent US military presence aimed at assisting the government in combating the Al Qaeda-linked Al Shabaab insurgency.

Since the US military’s return, AFRICOM conducted several airstrikes. One that killed five Al Shabaab fighters in June, weeks later, another airstrike killed two suspected militants in Southern Somalia. In August alone, the US conducted at least five airstrikes that killed an estimated 17 Al Shabaab members.

According to a report from the Defense Department’s Africa Center for Strategic Studies, Islamist militant extremism has increased by nearly 300% in Africa in the last decade, with Al Shabaab being one of the deadliest and most effective terror groups, accounting for an estimated 36% of all militant Islamist group violence on the continent this year.

In mid-August, President Mohamud vowed to tackle the Al Shabaab insurgency with “total war” after the militant group staged a deadly hotel siege in the heart of Mogadishu that killed dozens of civilians.

On Monday, Mohamud urged citizens to stay away from Al Shabaab-controlled areas as the SNA and local allied militia continue their offensive to liberate areas in central Somalia.

President Mohamud is expected to discuss the three-decade-long UN arms embargo on Somalia, which has been extended annually since and is currently in force until 15 November 2022.