Somalia: Former Al-Shabab leader to run for president

BAIDOA, Somalia – Former Al-Shabaab deputy leader and spokesman, Mukhtar Robow Abu Mansur has on Thursday announced his candidacy for southwest state president, Garowe Online reports.

Robow who has defected from the Al Qaeda-linked extremist group in 2013 declared that will run in the upcoming much anticipated presidential election that is scheduled to take place next month.

He is likely to face stiff competition from the incumbent president, Sharif Hassan and other candidates, including former Somali Finance minister Mohamed Aden Farketi in the key election.

The former Islamist leader surrendered to Somali government in Mogadishu in August 2017 after falling out with Ahmed Godane, founding father of group who was killed in US airstrike in 2014.

After deserting Al Shabaab, the Islamists have launched multiple attacks against Robow to try to kill or capture him while hiding in the jungles near his hometown, Hudur, the regional capital of Bakool.

Last year, the U.S. State Department has withdrawn it's five-year running $5 million rewards offered in 2012 for information on Robow that brought him "to justice", barely two month before his defection.

Speaking to the reporters in Baidoa city, about 250Km southeast of Mogadishu, Robow said his bid for president of the Southwest State came after a request from the people at home and abroad.

Al Shabaab which has been fighting for 10 years to try to topple Somalia’s central government backed by 22,000 African Union forces, known as AMISOM driven out of the capital Mogadishu and other key areas since 2011.

GAROWE ONLINE