Abdi Aynte was the Minister of Planning of Somalia as of 2016. Aynte spoke fluent English, and he gave an interview to Vice News correspondent Suroosh Alvi in a documentary released in October 2016. Aynte claimed that al-Shabaab still posed a major threat, as they were able to recruit young people from abject poverty (80% of the population was unemployed) and easily create bombs to blow up hotels. Aynte stated, however, that they lost 80-90% of their territory.