UN representative in Somalia: Al-Shabaab is an international threat

Special Representative of the Secretary-General of United Nations (UN) for Somalia, Nicholas Kay stated Tuesday Kenya mall siege in the capital Nairobi showed that al Shabaab threat was international.    Speaking at a press conference in UN's Geneva office, Kay said opportunity for international help came out from the "tragedy" for peace in Somalia, adding biggest problem in Somali was security.    Kay stressed an officially recognized government existed in the country and said it started to rule the country more effectively. "Security remains the number one challenge and controlling and defeating Al-Shabaab is key to this. The Westgate (mall) attacks showed that the threat from Al-Shabaab is international. We have seen it before in Kampala and we could see it again elsewhere too. The ideology and terrorist intent respects no borders," Kay said. Noting also their "campaign in Somalia should be intensified," Kay said he would pay effort for the need of additional source during his visit to New York this week and underlined the African Union Mission (AMISOM) were underresourced. "They have, for example, not a single helicopter, for a campaign in a country that has the size of Afghanistan physically," he added. Kay stated they estimated the existence of nearly 5 thousand al Shabaab militants in the region. Besides, Kay also stressed a 25 % increase in funds for Somalia would be an important step to solve the problem in this country, where UN's financial support reached $520 million and EU's 16 million euro.   Shortly before noon on Saturday, heavily-armed attackers entered the Westgate Mall, located not far from Nairobi's Central Business District. They shot at guards manning a car park before storming the building, both through the main entrance and via an underground opening. The Shabaab militant group in Somalia has claimed responsibility for the attack, which has so far claimed 62 lives, describing it as a response to Kenyan military intervention in Somalia. Al Shabab also claimed the responsibility of Turkish Embassy attack that killed 6 on 27 July 2013.