Aweys said the two groups are brothers and no one has betrayed the course of the religion, warning that more bloodshed will further derail the relationship. 

“We must keep our blood together as brothers, our hearts together and our rights together, ill-treating each other is prohibited, and to charge your fellow Muslims of being apostates is also prohibited in our religion” Sheikh Aweys told gathering after Eid Al-Adha prayers on Friday morning, in Alamada village at the outskirt of Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.

He said that the intercession between the two groups had stuck but hopes that it will soon resume to the normal course.

“There was mediation talk between us and Al-Shabaab before but now the mediation talks have staled, we hope that the talks will resume soon” he noted.

The 65-year old cleric has also justified that the fierce clashes going on in Mogadishu against the fragile UN-backed Somali government is rightful, but the one going on in Jubba regions is wrong because ‘it’s between Muslims’.

His remarks come after Al-Shabaab ousted his group from Dobley, a key southern border town located between Somalia and Kenya.

The two groups, which have been involved in armed struggle against the fragile Somali government and African Union peacekeeping force in Mogadishu, are now at loggerheads over the control of southern Somali regions, where they both have large presences.