8 Jan. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Both the Somali government and the jihadist organization Al Shabaab have denied any attempt to approach peace in a practically simultaneous double denial to the Somali Deputy Defense Minister, Abdifatá Qasim Mohamud, who yesterday announced a negotiating approach for the terrorist group.
The official denial came from the national security adviser Hussein Sheikh Ali in a message to the Somali affiliate of the US international radio station Voice of America.
“The (vice) minister has told us that they misunderstood him. Our policy towards the group remains the same,” he assured in relation to the “total war” declared by Somalia’s president, Hussein Sheikh Mohamud.
However, the advisor did confirm, as the deputy minister said at the time, that any Somali citizen who belongs to the group can surrender to the government and submit to “a formal amnesty process.”
For its part, the jihadist group has also denied any kind of diplomatic effort. “These statements have no basis. There are no conversations between us, nor can there be,” an anonymous senior official of the organization told the same outlet.
