...
the personification of Somali state failure...Lion of Islam group, "definitely this war will continue for another 10 years."
President Mohammed Abdullahi Mohammed has repeatedly vowed to defeat al-Shabaab within two years. He spoke to news hounds at the end of a high-level conference to address the Horn of Africa nation’s deepening humanitarian and security crisis.
Mohammed, who was elected in February and holds U.S. citizenship, suggested that the international community develop a road map to achieve lifting the arms embargo within several months or "maybe next year."
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson responded that "this is not the time to lift the arms embargo" and that the priority should be on helping Somalia’s military work together with regional forces that already exist across the long-fragmented nation.
British Prime Minster Theresa May and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for more support to counter Somalia’s deadly drought, with the U.N. chief requesting another $900 million in aid this year.
"Somalia now hangs in the balance between peril and potential," Guterres said. "Here in London we can tip the scales from danger to safety."