Monday November 21, 2022
Beledweyne (HOL) - A delegation led by Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud arrived in Beledweyne on Sunday, the center of a recent local community mobilization against al-Shabab in central Somali regions.
The delegation of the President, which arrived from Dhusamareb, the administrative capital of Galmudug state, was welcomed at Ugas Khalif Airport in Beledweyne by the President of Hirshabeelle and senior regional lawmakers.
After brief engagements in the airport’s VIP area, the President and his delegation visited the site of the last month's twin explosion that killed at least 20 people and 36 others wounded.
On October 3, two vehicles filled with explosives targeted the Lama-Galaay military base, which also serves as the local government headquarters and the offices of the deputy leader of Hirshabelle state and the governor of the Hiiraan region.
President Mohamud is expected to lay the foundation stone for the new regional administration headquarters.
On Sunday, November 20, 2022, President Mohamud and the President of the Galmudug State, Ahmed Abdi Kariye QoorQoor, attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Galmudug Presidential palace in Dhusamareb.
Mohamud embarked on his first visit to the battlefronts in the ongoing offensive against al-Shabab in central and south Somalia on Saturday, starting in Hiiraan's Mahas district, followed by Bahdo, where he toured army positions, commending the Somali National Army and local communities.
Mohamud vowed to continue the "all-out war" against terrorism as the Somali government forces backed by local clan militia liberated scores of villages in Hiiraan, Galgadud and Middle Shabelle regions, killing over two thousand al-Shabab militants in recent months.