Hiiraan Online
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
MOGADISHU (HOL) - Spurred by the recent defection by high-ranking Al-Shabab commanders, Somalia's president called for more defections by disgruntled militants still fighting alongside the group which is fighting to topple the western backed government.
Hassan Sheikh Mohamud's remarks come after the former Al-Shabab intelligence leader Zakariya Ismail has declared he quitted the Al-Shabab group's 'violent' war at a press conference in Mogadishu on Tuesday.
"I say to the many disaffected members of al-Shabaab: the door is always open to those who reject al-Shabaab's destructive agenda and embrace peace." Mr. Mohamud said in a statement released Wednesday.
On the other hand, the president has tried to calm public anger on integrating disengaged militants into the government without vetting, assuring them that no genuine defections would be accepted, in an apparent reference to 'sleeper cells'.
""Those who defect are supported to acknowledge and deal with their actions through a process of supervised rehabilitation." He affirmed.
For the past two years, military officials have been reporting an increasing defection of by Al-Shabab members; however, some critics accuse the government of integrating the former militants into the army without background checks after reports of attacks carried out by sleeper cells who were informally integrated into the horn of Africa nation's fractured army.