Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD: Somali government claimed Saturday that the extremist group Al-Shabab has for the first time asked to open talks, amid a military offensive the government has described as “total war”.
The Al Qaeda affiliate Al-Shabab did not issue an immediate statement that has carried high-profile bombings in Somalia’s capital and other parts of the country’s central and southern regions for over a decade, complicating efforts to rebuild the once-failed country after decades of conflict.
Abdifatah Kasim, Deputy Defense Minister, said that Al-Shabab requested to initiate negotiations with the Somali government, but there are 2 parts within the group. The first part is foreigners and the second is local Somalis. This local part has a chance to start negotiations, but the foreigners who attacked our country have no right for talks. The only option is to return to where they are from, AP reported on Sunday.
According to AP, Al-Shabab has thousands of fighters, including an unknown number of foreigners, both from regional countries like Kenya and abroad.
The deputy minister further said that the government was ready to receive the local fighters if they were willing to surrender. They must follow the government’s instructions and reintegrate with their society or face the Somali National Army on the war front. Somalia’s government has said for the first time that the extremist group has requested negotiations.
Negotiations in past
In September, during a US visit, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohammad said that they were not willing to negotiate. He had stressed that the government is ready for talks and sent messages to the group about it.
Al-Shabab has long sought to impose strict laws and wants the withdrawal of foreign forces operating in the Horn of Africa country.
The US has its troops in Somalia to fight the extremists, along with Turkey and a multinational force of the African Union.
