Somalia has one year to oust al-Shabaab militants from the country, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud told an audience at London's Royal United Services Institute.
He linked the deadline to the withdrawal of the still remaining African Union peacekeepers next December.
"The end game is December 2024 when all the ATMIS [African Union Transition Mission in Somalia] forces have to leave the country," Mohamud said, as quoted by media.
He added that the government's focus has been on destroying the "the residual" al-Shabaab, a task complicated by the recent deadly floods, although the floods have also made it harder for militants to plant mines.
The president also called the government's progress against the terrorists "encouraging," but added that there are currently no signs that al-Shabaab leaders are willing to dialogue with the authorities.
In September, the Somali government asked the UN Security Council to postpone the second phase of the withdrawal of the ATMIS peacekeeping contingent for 90 days.
The government justified its request by citing the ongoing security threat and the fact that while Somali forces had managed to retake towns, villages, and key supply routes since the beginning of the large-scale offensive, they had suffered several serious setbacks in the Galguduud region.
Pursuant to UN Security Council Resolution 2670, which directs the mission to transfer security responsibilities in agreed areas to Somali security forces, ATMIS completed the first phase of its drawdown in Somalia by the end of June this year, withdrawing 2,000 peacekeepers and handing over six bases to Somali forces.
ATMIS was due to withdraw another 3,000 troops by the end of September. Before the drawdown, the peacekeeping mission had about 20,000 troops drawn from Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda.
In 2022, President Mohamud declared a "total war" against terrorists, which involves ideological, financial, and military measures, with the main goal of defeating the group by the end of 2023.
* al-Shabaab and al-Qaeda are terrorists groups banned in Russia and many other countries.