Hiiraan Online

 

Baidoa (HOL) - Somalia's Lower House Parliamentary Speaker, Sheikh Adan Mohamed Nur Madobe declared a new offensive against Al Shabaab in the South West State while on a visit to Hudur, the capital of the Bakool region.

At a high-level welcoming ceremony held in the Hudur, The PM called on local residents to join the fight against Al Shabaab by providing assistance to Somali government forces and anti-Shabaab militias.

Speaker Madobe told residents that he guaranteed their lives would improve if they were able to shake-off Al Shabaab.

Bakool, in southeastern Somalia, is one of the worst-affected areas by the drought. For more than a decade, it has been under an al-Shabaab siege, with the only way to access those in need of humanitarian assistance being by air or using donkey cart.

The blockade is ruthless. Last month, Hudur Mayor Omar Atu told media al-Shabaab militatns torched more than four donkey carts carrying much-needed food supplies.

Tens of thousands of residents in Hudur district have fled their homes in search of water since the onset of the latest drought.

Since coming to power in mid-May, Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud through his support behind an government offensive targeted Al Shabaab in central Somalia. With the help of anti-Shabaab clan militia's known popularly as Ma'awisley, the Somali government was able to kill hundreds of militants while liberating dozens of small rural villages in Hirshabelle and parts of Lower Shabelle and Galmudug from the Al Qaeda-linked terror group.