Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, the president of Somalia, met with a delegation from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia led by Ahmed Bin Abdulaziz Kattan at the State House in Mogadishu on Thursday. President Mohamud and the delegation addressed the need to strengthen the long-standing ties between the two nations as well as the ongoing war on terrorism during the meeting.Â
It is anticipated that the second phase of anti-al-Shabaab operations will begin in the coming weeks as the Somali government forces, assisted by international partners, step up their efforts against al-Shabaab. In a press conference, the Special Envoy of the Royal Court and Minister of Internal Security of the Federal Republic of Somalia, Mohamed Ahmed Sheikh Ali Doodishe, asserted that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is prepared to invest in and provide security for Somalia. They emphasized how this assistance will increase stability and give Somali citizens job opportunities.Â
Somalia has a long history of cultural, religious, and trade ties with the Arabs of the Arabian Peninsula, which lies across the Gulf of Aden. Although Somalis ethnically are not Arabs, they identify more with Arabs than with their fellow Africans. Thus it was not surprising when Somalia joined the League of Arab States (Arab League) in 1974, becoming the first non-Arab member of that organization
