Ahmed was speaking four days after al Shabaab pulled most of its forces out of the Somali capital amid signs of deepening rifts among its senior commanders.
“As long as they are in Somali territory, even an inch, I will not rest,” Ahmed told a news conference after meeting Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete in Dar es Salaam. “Our determination is to clear them out,” he said.
Some regional allies have criticised Ahmed’s failure to quash the insurgency and push through a new constitution designed to better spread political power among the country’s powerful clans and regions.
Al Shabaab’s four-year rebellion is the latest chapter in Somalia’s two-decade long civil conflict, sparked by the overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. The chaos on land has allowed piracy to flourish off the Horn of Africa’s shores.
Al Shabaab said its retreat from Mogadishu was a tactical move, raising fears it will increasingly resort to al Qaeda-inspired attacks such as suicide bombings and assassinations.
A series of military offensives against al Shabaab in Mogadishu this year and a drying up of “taxes” extorted from traders in the capital and farmers in rural areas affected by drought have deepened the divisions among the rebel commanders.
One faction prefers a more nationalist Somali agenda and wants to impose a harsh Islamic programme on the nation. Another more international wing aims to promote Jihad (holy war) and forge closer ties with regional al Qaeda cells