Somalia's prime minister has named former al Shabaab group co-founder and spokesperson Mukhtar Robow as a minister in the country's new cabinet, a move that could either help strengthen the fight against the insurgency or provoke clan clashes.
Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre said in televised remarks that Robow, who once had a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head before he split from al Shabaab in 2013, would serve as the minister in charge of religion.
The previous government arrested him December 2018 in Somalia's South West region as he campaigned for the regional presidency. The protests that followed were quashed with deadly force with security forces shooting at least 11 people.
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