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Somalia uproar continues after former al-Shabab No. 2 seized
[ABC] Somalia saw a third day of protests on Saturday over the arrest of the former No. 2 leader of the al-Shabab extremist group, who has been a leading candidate for a regional presidency. Officials said at least eight people have been killed so far as angry supporters take to the streets and clash with police.

The African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia in a statement released overnight called for "utmost restraint" after the gunfire-fueled uproar around Muhktar Robow's
...more formally Sheikh Muktar Ali Robow, known as Abu Mansur when he was frontman for Al Shabaab — before his failed attempt to overthrow senior management in 2013. A busy man, he had trained in Islamic law at the University of Khartoum, taught Somali orphans for the Saudi “charitable” Al-Haramain Foundation, and fought with the Taliban before again returning home to give back to his community as best he could. In 2017 he surrendered to the Somali authorities, denouncing Al Shabaab as mean meanies...
arrest on Thursday in Baidoa, and it denied playing any role.

His arrest is seen as a high-profile test of Somalia's treatment of defectors from the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab, Africa's most active extremist group. Somalia's government welcomed the defection last year by al-Shabab's former spokesman but not his popular candidacy to lead Southwest state, which took some officials by surprise.

Robow was seized by Ethiopian troops accompanied by Somali police, witnesses told The Associated Press. He was flown to the capital, Mogadishu, a Somali intelligence official said. All spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters or for safety concerns.

Some Somali lawmakers had accused the AU mission of being involved.

Ethiopia's military, which contributes troops to the AU mission, has not commented. Robow's arrest could re-ignite old tensions between Somalia and neighboring Ethiopia despite recent diplomatic breakthroughs in the Horn of Africa sparked by Ethiopia's reformist new prime minister.
Posted by: Besoeker 2018-12-15
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=529758