Highlights:
Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on 14th February 2016 said that the key to winning the fight against al Shabaab is by providing better opportunities for the youth in Somalia.
He said that most of the young people in Somalia that fight for the al Shabaab are driven by the money and stipends they receive when they stage an attack.
Summary:
Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud addressing a top defense officials and diplomats meeting said that the key to defeating al Shabaab is not only by military offensive against the militants.
According to statistics, most of the al Shabaab fighters who fall under the age of 35 were born when the country was in the state of lawlessness and chaos since the collapse of the government in 1991 and they have learned to survive violently.
Most of the youth that have joined the al Shabaab terror organization do it for the money. The absence of a government and a monitored economic system left the youth vulnerable, hopeless and susceptible to recruitment into the Harakat al Shabaab al Mujahideen which provided income sources for them.
President Hassan Sheikh said despite the military operation mounted against the al Shabaab, providing the youth with better opportunities to earn honest income and financially advance themselves is the long term solution to defeating the al Shabaab.
With ample opportunities, they will expose the youth to financial independence and ability to fend for their families and is very fundamental to the defeat of al Shabaab. Reports have shown that many of these fighters aren’t in al Shabaab for ideological reasons but for financial reasons.
