Mogadishu (Alshahid)- Alshahid Center for Research and Media studies in collaboration with the Somali speaking Universal TV conducted its monthly forum on the governments mass arrests that was recently happening in Mogadishu and how that will help maintaining peace in Somalia.

The forum was attended by security officials, university students, and members of the public who have been affected by the mass arrests carried out by the Somali police in the neighborhoods of Mogadishu in recent months.

The participants discussed about the mass arrests, their impact on the Somali citizens, and their role in achieving security and stability.

Mr Hassan Mude Abdullahi, deputy director of Alshahid office in Somalia, welcomed the participants to the forum, highlighting that it is one of the activities that the Center does to bring out issues that of interest to the Somali public. He thanked Universal TV for taking part in the forum and broadcasting it to Somalis all over the world.

Sheikh Yussuf Hussein Jimale, an official for internal affairs and external relations of Peace and Development Party, said that mass arrests are the most effective way of maintaining peace in the capital.

He added that criminal always hide in the public and that is what necessities the mass arrests.

Amin Sayid Ahmed Haji, security adviser to the Somali embassy in Sana’a defended the Mogadishu police’s mass arrest conducted from time to time. He said that world nations use mass arrests to capture wanted criminals hiding in the society.

Abdi Arab Omar, a Mogadishu resident criticized the mass arrests, citing that all his family members were at one time arrested and spent in a cell for more than 24 hours. He urged the government to briefly detain suspects and release the innocent immediately.

The following solutions were proposed at the end of the forum:

1. Giving ID cards to any citizen who had previously been arrested by the security agents; to avoid detention again.
2. Activation of the surveillance devices departments for all neighborhoods in Mogadishu.
3. Reducing the period of detention of citizens arrested in any form.
4. Respecting anyone who has guanine ID card, and dealing with the detainee humanely.
5. Thinking of alternative solutions to the mass arrests for the security of Somalia.

As scheduled for Alshahid Center, a book will be published on the subject of this forum as one of the intellectual and social activities that the Center intends to implement within its annual plan.

Watch it here: