53 years old, Muktar Robow alias “Abou Mansour” had publicly defected in 2017 of this Islamist movement which he had contributed to founding.
Le Monde with AFP
In Somalia, a former leader of radical Islamists Chabab, who became a politician, was appointed Minister of Religious Affairs in the government announced on Tuesday August 2 by Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre. 53 years old, Muktar Robow alias “Abou Mansour” had publicly defeated Chabab in August 2017, a movement he had helped to found and which has been leading an insurrection against the federal government supported by the international community for fifteen years.
A time the subject of a reward of $ 5 million offered for its capture by the United States government, the former Chabab spokesperson had broken in 2013 with the one who was then at the head of the Insurrection, Ahmed Abdi Godane. He then took refuge in the Bakool region (southwest), without completely breaking with the Chabab. In December 2018, he had been arrested when he was seeking the presidency of the federated state of the Southwest. The government, led by President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed known as “Farmajo”, accused him of having “organized a militia” and of having “never renounced his extremist ideologies”. He has since been under house arrest in Mogadishu.
repeated crises
Appointed on June 15 by the new president, Hassan Cheikh Mohamoud, Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre appointed a government of 75 members in total. At a press conference, he said he “selected on the basis of their university career, their experience and their sense of equity”. “I am waiting for [them] that they meet the needs of the country, with the hope that they will open a new path for Somalia, and I am confident that they will implement the great vision of the president and his Program of a Somalia in peace with itself and the world, “he added.
Many challenges await the government, which must still be approved by a vote of the Parliament. Country prey to chronic instability, Somalia has faced the Chabab insurrection for fifteen years, which remain firmly established in large rural areas. They have taken advantage of repeated crises at the top of the executive in recent months to intensify their attacks against the federal government and the security forces.
The country also faces the threat of imminent famine caused by the worst drought for forty years. The last four rainy seasons since the end of 2020 have been insufficient and 7.1 million Somalians, almost half of the population, are in a situation of acute food insecurity, according to the UN. This drought also made 918,000 displaced.