{{Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab militants have the \u201ccapability and intent\u201d to spread their attacks beyond their strongholds in Somalia, a UN special representative has warned.}}<\/p>\n
The Al-Shabaab \u201cis an organisation that has a regional agenda,\u201d Mr Nick Kay, the UN\u2019s special representative in Somalia, said on Saturday, and called for greater regional cooperation to combat the threat.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe very top leadership of the organisation see themselves as pursuing something above and beyond just a Somalia national agenda.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has the capability and intent to carry out attacks across the region for some time,\u201d Mr Kay said, adding that this intent is \u201cstronger now\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Al-Shabaab has recently stepped up attacks against countries that contribute to the 22,000-strong, UN-backed African Union force deployed against them in Somalia since 2007.<\/p>\n
Neighbouring Kenya has been a particular focus of Al-Shabaab violence, most notably with the attack on the Westgate shopping mall last September in which at least 67 people were killed.<\/p>\n
The group also claimed responsibility for two raids earlier this month in a Kenyan tourist area which killed around 60 people.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Al-Shabaab gunmen attacked an African Union military base in central Somalia dressed in stolen government army uniforms, killing at least two soldiers from Djibouti, the AU said.<\/p>\n
Mr Kay said cooperation was key to tackling the terrorism threat.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt does require the countries of the region, with the support of the international community, to be much more joined up in their approach.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is very, very important that Somalia is stabilised and that the Somali people enjoy a government that is truly accountable to them and truly working in their interests,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Somalia is due to put in place a new federal constitution in 2015 and hold elections in 2016, although the security situation could delay progress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
{{Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab militants have the \u201ccapability and intent\u201d to spread their attacks beyond their strongholds in Somalia, a UN special representative has warned.}} The Al-Shabaab \u201cis an organisation that has a regional agenda,\u201d Mr Nick Kay, the UN\u2019s special representative in Somalia, said on Saturday, and called for greater regional cooperation to combat the threat. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2000052885,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-15172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000052885,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton15172.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton15172.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton15172.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton15172.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton15172.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton15172.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000052885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15172"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=15172"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=15172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}