Somalia announces the purchase of heavy weapons and warplanes

 Somali National Security Adviser Hussein Muallem announced the purchase of anti-aircraft weapons, mortars and helicopters by the federal government. Muallem explained - according to what was reported by the Somali News Agency today, Tuesday, that when the United Nations renewed the arms embargo imposed on the country, the conditions were relaxed and the government was allowed to buy some weapons.

"Last year, we were able to purchase some heavy weapons that were not allowed before, which benefited the Somali government in its war on terrorism," said the security adviser, adding that the federal government is working on ways to increase the number and quality of the various sections of the Somali armed forces, so that they can protect its land and sea borders.

This comes in the context of Somalia's continuous efforts to eliminate terrorism and achieve a smooth security transition, as it works on more than one front within a specific time limit to succeed in thorny files.

In this context, the Somali National Security Adviser, Hussein Sheikh Ali, spoke about the security transition and the withdrawal of the African forces “Atmis”, and the repercussions of the security moves in a discussion area that lasted about an hour, on state television.

Hussein Sheikh Ali said, "Somalia was not ready for the withdrawal of Atmis at the time of the signing of the security transition agreement in early April 2022, as it was busy in the political transition process."

He added, "The Atmis withdrawal process was distributed in 4 phases to facilitate the security transition, and last December we requested an extension of the start date for the withdrawal, to strengthen the war against the terrorist Al-Shabaab movement."

He stressed that Somalia is determined to withdraw completely from Atmis at the end of December 2024, adding, "We are currently working on preparing the withdrawal of 3,000 African soldiers next September, according to a tripartite technical mechanism between the African Union, the United Nations and Somalia."

The security advisor also said, "We are working to accelerate the completion of the national security structure agreement to equip a modern national army." The Somali official touched on the issue of lifting the arms embargo imposed on Somalia, noting that it is subject to a 10-point time mechanism, but he did not provide further details.