Federal Member States (FMM) in Somalia have agreed to create a new force that will fight the al-Qaeda affiliated al Shabaab in the country. In a communique released, in two months, the Council of Inter-State Cooperation (CIC) in Somalia will draw 1,000 soldiers from each FMS, integrate and train them together for smooth, seamless and unified offensive against terrorists.
Also, the CIC said it was pulling out of any security cooperation with the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) because of failure to implement agreed-upon security measures. Somalia currently is divided into six proposed regional states. Puntland, Galmudug, Jubbaland, South West State, Hirshabelle and Somaliland.
The CIC will additionally establish a Security Fund Account to cater to the financing of the said forces. It said when a competent FGS was in place, the force will be handed over to the Somali National Army, SNA. Leaders of the states were present at the five-day conference hosted in Garowe, Puntland after which the communique speaking on security and politics was issued.
The conference was able to establish strategies that they believe will effect better change especially in the fight against al Shabaab and ISIS that have proved a resilient especially to the already established counterterrorism measures in place. The force is believed to be the much-needed injection into the fight against al Shabaab in Somalia.
