The United States on Monday said it was concerned about growing ties between Somalia’s Al-Shabaab and Yemen’s Houthi rebels, calling for cooperation with the Security Council committees on Yemen and Somalia to monitor the links between the two groups, which the United States considers terrorist organizations.
This came in a statement by John Kelly, the acting US ambassador to the Security Council, during an extension of the Committee of Experts that helps the Security Council implement sanctions against Al-Shabaab.
Kelly said in his speech that “the smuggling routes across the Red Sea that connect terrorist groups based in Somalia and Yemen must be addressed with great importance and international cooperation”.
He added: “We are concerned about the growing ties between Al-Shabaab and the Houthis.”
He continued: “We encourage dialogue between the sanctions committees on Yemen and Al-Shabaab, and the countries of the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, to shed light on the relationship between the Houthis and Al-Shabaab, and ultimately to separate them.”
