East Africa

"The Ruen hijacking was likely carried out by Somalia-based pirates," said Simon Rynn, senior research fellow for African Security at the Royal United Services Institute. "The resurgence coincides with the Houthi campaign against Israeli-linked shipping but if there is a connection it would at most be due to counter-piracy actors being distracted."

Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has said talks with Al Shabab are his preferred endgame for peace in the country but without negotiations the militia could be defeated militarily. The Mogadishu government has set a one-year target for expelling the Al Qaeda-linked Al Shabab militant group from the country. "I believe we will defeat Al Shabab militarily," Mr Mohamud said at a Royal United Services Institute meeting in London on Tuesday.

The Somali army will be ready to take over from African Union forces when they leave the country in 2024, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said at a talk in London on Tuesday. ... ATMIS -- made up of troops from Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda - was due to begin a second phase of withdrawal in September, with the departure of 3,000 soldiers. But the Somali government requested and obtained a three-month postponement. "It just coincided with a time that we have some setback and we have been struggling to reorganise," he told the London conference organised by the Royal United Services Institute think tank. "But now we are ready," he said, adding the country was "good to take over" in December 2024, the current target.