Source: Reuters
NAIROBI (Reuters) – Last year Mukhtar Robow had a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head. Now the former Islamist al Shabaab militant has downed his guns and donned the garb of a democrat.
While Robow is not the first ex-militant to enter Somali politics, the momentum behind his bid to become a regional leader has turned his effort into a watershed moment in the stand-off between the federal government and Somali’s seven semi-autonomous regions.
How Mogadishu and those states ultimately find ways to share power – including via elections such as the Dec. 5 vote in the South West state where Robow is running – is critical.
“It’s a pivotal point in the confrontation between the government and federal member states, which is probably a much greater threat to Somalia’s security than al Shabaab itself,” said Matt Bryden, head of the Nairobi-based think tank Sahan Research.
Categories: Africa, Somalia, The Muslim Times