Africa must unite against terrorism

The mayor of Mogadishu, Tabid Abdi Mohamed, described Sunday’s truck bombing in the Somali capital as “unspeakable”.

Talking to relatives of the dead, he said: “There is no tragedy worse than when someone comes to the dead body of their relative and cannot recognise them.”

His words still do not come close to capturing the horror of the vicious act of terrorism, which left hundreds dead and even more injured. Somali authorities have blamed the carnage on al-Shabaab, a militant group aligned with al-Qaeda, which was forced out of the capital six years ago by Somali and African Union troops.

The government has the support of countries around the world and is the best hope for saving Somalia from becoming a terminally failed state.

Terrorist groups like al-Shabaab want to impose their extremist view of the world by acts of extreme violence … and these get more extreme as stability grows in countries like Somalia.

The latest murders must not deter the Somali people from their quest for freedom and democracy. But nor must it deter the rest of Africa from continuing to support the people of Somalia.

We, Africa’s people, must say unequivocally that terrorism will not succeed.