Somalia’s president has called on the international community to lift an arms embargo on his country as government soldiers are battling to regain territory from the armed group al-Shabab. Speaking Thursday at a Somalia conference held in London and attended by world leaders, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, known as Farmajo, said government forces would defeat the al-Qaeda-affiliated group in “a few years” – but that Somali troops had to be better equipped. “For far too long, our security forces and terrorist groups have been fighting using the same type of light weapons – mostly AK47s. The longstanding arms embargo on Somalia severely restricts our ability to procure heavy weapons,” Farmajo said.