NEW YORK, USA [SMN] – The President of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh who is on US visit met with the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, in New York.
The meeting focused on issues such as peace, security, stability and the humanitarian situation, according to a brief statement published on Twitter by the Somali Presidency.
The president who arrived in the US last week, delivered a speech to the UN Security Council on June 22 in which he called for the total lift of arms embargo imposed in 1992.
Hassan Sheikh said that a lot of effort has been put into defeating Al-Shabaab, with the latest operations saw the liberation of more than 70 areas since in August 2022.
The government of Somalia hopes to bring an end to Al-Shabaab insurgency in this year by launching the second phase of the army operations with the support of frontline states.
Liberating the remaining al-Shabaab-held territory in southern and central Somalia is a major task for Hassan Sheikh who vowed to hold a popular election in 2026.
The UNSC welcomed Somalia’s continued progress on the benchmarks outlined in the Secretary-General’s September 2022 report in assessing its request for fully lifting the arms embargo on the Horn of Africa nation.
