By Hassan Isilow
JOHANNESBURG
A Somali lawmaker and former national security minister has insisted that recent terrorist attacks targeting members of parliament would not intimidate them or prevent them from continuing to work for the development of the country and its people.
"The assassination of lawmakers in the past weeks is very sad and shows that militant groups don't want to see a stable Somali government," Abdisamad Mahamoud Hassan, currently in Johannesburg to attend a meeting of the Pan-African Parliament, told Anadolu Agency in an exclusive interview.
"But Somali MPs are determined to work for the betterment of their country and people, no matter what," he said.
Since the start of this year, several lawmakers have been killed by the Al-Shabaab militant group.
Sheikh Adam Mohamed Deir, head of parliament's financial committee, was shot dead outside a Mogadishu mosque on August 1.
He was the second lawmaker to be targeted in Somalia within one week.
Al-Shabaab had also claimed responsibility for the earlier assassination – also in Mogadishu – of female lawmaker Sada Ali.
The group says it will continue targeting legislators who support the country's Western-backed government.
A total of eight lawmakers have been killed since the establishment of Somalia's 275-member parliament in 2012.
Hassan said MPs would return to the national assembly in mid-September when they would resume normal parliamentary procedures.
-Loose security-
Hassan, who once served as national security minister, regretted that no arrests had yet been made in connection with the spate of assassinations.
"The security of Mogadishu is a little bit loose compared to previous months," he told AA.
The lawmaker noted that the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) had launched a joint cleanup operation with local forces aimed at restoring security in the volatile city.
Around 22,000 African peacekeepers have been stationed in the Horn of Africa country for a number of years.
Hassan said the international community should help Somalia set up a stable national army and police force.
"We need more help in capacity building and advisories to help government in rebuilding institutions such as the Somali security forces," he asserted.
"We also encourage Somali experts in the diaspora to join the Somali security forces," he added.
Somalia has remained in the grip of on-again, off-again violence since the outbreak of civil war in 1991.
The troubled country recently appeared to inch closer to stability with the intervention of African Union troops tasked with bringing Al-Shabaab to heel.
Although Al-Shabaab has since lost most of its local strongholds, it continues to carry out occasional attacks on Somali government officials and foreign troops.
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