Somalia’s new president vows to beat back jihadists, then talk to them
An interview with Hassan Sheikh Mohamud
When hassan sheikh mohamud entered Villa Somalia as president in 2012, his writ ran little farther than the sandbagged gates of the bullet-pocked, Italian-built, Art Deco palace of the head of state. Though the central government had recently wrested control of most of Mogadishu, the capital, and had recaptured some strategic towns here and there, vast swathes of the country’s centre and south remained in the hands of al-Shabab, a jihadist group with links to al-Qaeda.
This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “Better luck this time”
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