August 2, 2022 The new Somali prime Minister Hamze Abdi barre appointed Mukhtar Robow as the Minster of Endowment and Religious affairs, Mukhtar Robow who is also known as Abu Mansur had a bounty of $5 million on his head and he was the second most important leader of the terrorist group Al-Shabaab, He defected from the group in 2017 after long unsolved dispute between him and his seniors including the formal leader of the group Ahmed Godane who was later killed by the US drones on September 2014 near the south coastal town of Barawe.
Mukhtar Robow’s defection in 2017 was hailed and praised by the Somali government but later he was detained and was under house arrest since 2017 till he was appointed as member of the Somali minister’s cabinet today, He was attacked in Baidoa by the Somali government forces a combined with Ethiopian Soldiers as per reports and after short time clashes between the government forces who attacked him and his supporters which claimed the lives of more than 11 civilians, the federal government forces successfully captured him in 2018 while he was running for the president of Southwest State.
Under his house arrest Abu Mansoor claimed his arrest was politically motivated and the government targeted him for their interest of empowering and supporting one of their ally the current president of Southwest state Mr. Abdi Aziz he added his detentions was intended to hijack the southwest election.
There is no official statement or report from the government that states the reason behind his house arrest that took more than 4 years and he was never brought before the justice for any case that is against him and there is no officially known lawyer stood for him since his arrest.
Despite the US statement department removal of the formal deputy leader of Al-Shabaab from the most wanted terrorists list, the UN security Council still holds him under sanctions but some political analysts believe he can be the turning point in succeeding the fight against the insurgents group of al-Shabaab as he was one of their founders.
On the other hand, Abu Mansoor is a symbol of bloodshed, genocide and massacre, in his time of being the spokesperson of Al-Shabaab the group claimed the lives of thousands of innocent Somali people by bombing and murdering in streets and markets.
One of the most famous explosions al-Shabaab claimed its responsibility through their spokesperson at that time who is the currently appointed minster of Religious Affairs Abu Mansur was the explosion of Hotel shamow in December 2009, the attack killed 25 students who were graduating from the faculty of medicine, that attack also killed three (3) Transitional federal government ministers including the minister of EducationAhmed Abdulahi Waayeel, minister of Health Qamar Aden Ali, and the minister of higher education brahim Hassan Addow.
The 52-year-old formal insurgent leader was born in Hudur the capital city of Bakool region southern Somalia on 10 October 1969, he memorized the Quran at a young age and later continued his religious education in the mosques in his local town as well as in the capital city Mogadishu, he studied the Islamic low ‘Sharia’ in the university of Khartoum Sudan in his 30’s.
Written By: Mohamed Abdifitah Mohamoud
