MOGADISHU (Somaliguardian) – Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has appealed to Arab nations for military and financial support in his government’s ongoing battle against Islamist militant amid declining Western engagement.
In an open letter published in the London-based Arabic daily Asharq Al-Awsat, Mohamud said Somalia faces a critical moment in its campaign against Al-Shabaab and the local ISIS affiliate, describing militant activity as a destabilizing force not only for Somalia but for the wider region.
Mohamud, who has survived multiple assassination attempts by Al-Shabaab — including one just weeks ago while en route to Mogadishu airport — framed his counterterrorism efforts as a regional imperative, urging wealthy Arab states to bolster his government’s capacity to prevent extremist spillover across the Gulf of Aden.
In a striking appeal, the Somali leader claimed that his forces had intercepted drones and weapons smuggled from Yemen, pointing to what he described as operational links between Yemen’s Houthi movement, Al-Shabaab, and ISIS-Somalia. These assertions, which have not been independently verified and have not previously appeared in public intelligence reports, appeared designed to galvanize concern among Arab powers about the transnational dimension of Somalia’s militant threats.
Mohamud also said Somali forces had achieved progress against ISIS in coastal areas along the Red Sea, though regional forces— not federal government troops — have led the fighting in those zones, without any support from Mogadishu.
Support from the Arab world is now not only necessary — it is indispensable, Mohamud wrote, warning that without enhanced cooperation, ISIS remnants entrenched in Somalia’s northeast could flee by sea to the Arabian Peninsula.
The president’s overture comes as Western nations scale back their engagement with Somalia amid growing frustration over the government’s faltering reform agenda and repeated delays in promised military and political benchmarks. In 2022, Mohamud sought to rally U.S. and European backing through op-eds in Western outlets. His pivot to Arabic-language media now signals a recalibration of Somalia’s foreign policy outreach.
Somalia’s federal government, with African Union backing, has long struggled to assert control beyond major urban centers. Al-Shabaab continues to hold swathes of territory in central and southern Somalia, despite years of counterterrorism operations and U.S. airstrikes.
Analysts say Mogadishu’s latest outreach underscores deepening concern over donor fatigue and a shifting geopolitical landscape that could leave Somalia more vulnerable to extremist resurgence.
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