Somalia: President Mohamud highlights progress made on security

President of Somalia Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said on Tuesday that it is time for Somalia to "take up full responsibility of its security."

"The achievement of this objective will not only benefit Somalia, but it will also contribute to regional and global peace and stability,” said Mohamud at the Somalia Security Sector Conference in New York.

The President of Somalia told delegates that the drawdown of ATMIS (African Transition Mission in Somalia) is "a testament to the progress we've made together in building a more stable Somalia with a stronger security apparatus working towards transitioning full security responsibilities to Somali forces.”

Mohamud said in his address to the conference that hundreds of al-Shabab related bank accounts have been frozen as a result of the country's anti-money laundering and countering financing terrorism policies.

Ideologically, he added, “we have also mobilized local communities across Somalia to publicly reject al-Shabab and brought together religious scholars who unanimously denounce the ideology and the practices of al-Shabab and branded it as un-Islamic.”

He also presented a phased approach for building capable, accountable and affordable Somali security forces and welcomed the United Nations Security Council's decision to lift the arms embargo on Somalia.

"Climate shocks are further exacerbated by the ongoing security, which undermines the development of much needed resilient infrastructure and livelihoods," Mohamud continued. "Both climate change and terrorism are global issues, but we are disproportionately bearing their burden locally while the global responsibility is lacking.”