8 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The President of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, has announced a ban on the carrying of weapons to the civilian population in the capital, Mogadishu, and asked people to trust the security forces to protect them from any attack that the Somali government tries to commit. fearsome jihadist group Al Shabaab.
“It is true that it is a strict prohibition but there is no way to justify people driving around with machine guns mounted on their cars and walking through the streets with a grenade launcher to protect themselves from a hypothetical Al Shabaab militiaman armed with a pistol,” he explained. the president last Friday.
The president, who has warned those who violate this new prohibition to the fullest extent of the law, has also announced that merchants in the capital will not be able to sell military clothing or any tactical equipment either, as he made known after a sermon in statements collected by Voice of America, the American international broadcaster.
“We are not going to let them matter, not even the Abdi Bile,” he has made known in reference to the Toyota trucks, famous throughout the country for their capacity to transport heavy artillery, and which has earned them this nickname, the name of a historical Somali long-distance runner.
Since coming to power, the Somali president has waged a merciless fight against violence in the country, especially that unleashed by Al Shabaab, right now in full retreat after the first phase of the “total war” operation being carried out by the Army Somali and tribal alliances, and which, according to the government, has left more than 3,000 militiamen dead and more than 70 towns recovered.
