Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, a Somali-American educator, also said in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday night that increased U.S. and international support for his government is essential to end Somalia's lawlessness and prevent terrorists from continuing to use the country as a safe haven.
He also warned that nearly 2.5 million Somalis in both Islamist and government-controlled areas are on the verge of starvation and said some have already died. He urged immediate global help to prevent even more deaths than in the 1992 famine when 500,000 people died.
Somalia has not had an effective government since 1991 when warlords overthrew longtime dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on each other, plunging the country into chaos and anarchy. The weak U.N.- and U.S-backed transitional government, established in 2004, and a poorly resourced African Union peacekeeping force control only a small slice of Mogadishu and haven't been able to push past the firing lines of Islamist insurgents who are set up only a few blocks from the presidential palace.
Last month, al-Shabab and the second major Islamist group, Hizbul Islam, ended a long feud and merged.
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