Hundreds of people in the Somali capital Mogadishu, attended a government-organised rally to protest against the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group.
Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who was part of the rally at a stadium under tight security, used the event to call on Somalis to help flush out members of the al-Shabab group he described as “bedbugs”.
“I’m calling to you, the people of Mogadishu, the Kharijites [renegades] are amongst you … so flush them out. They are in your houses, they are your neighbours, in cars that pass you by,” Mohamud said, addressing the large crowd which was one of the largest public gatherings in recent years.
“The people are tired of massacres, killings, and all kinds of misdeeds and they are now saying to al-Shabab: ‘Enough is enough’,” he said.
His government has also urged citizens to report on fighters living among them”.
Al-Shabab has been waging a bloody uprising against the internationally-backed central government since 2007, carrying out attacks in Somalia and neighbouring countries, which sent troops to help in the fight against the armed group.
The group killed 166 people at Garissa University in 2015, and 67 at a mall in Nairobi in 2013, but the frequency and severity of al-Shabab attacks in Kenya has reduced in recent years.
The president declared “all-out” war against the group shortly after he came to office in May last year.
