On August 2, Somalia’s prime minister, Hamza Barre, made an extraordinary announcement: the nomination of Robow as a minister. Mukhtar Robow, a former deputy commander of the insurgent organization al-Shabaab, was named Minister for Endowment, Religious Affairs, and Counterterrorism Ideology. The public’s response to his appointment has been mixed.
The decision was made to show that those who have left al-Shabaab and rejected its ideology are welcome. Robow is anticipated to play a significant role in the fight against terror ideas and would be in charge of preventing youth recruitment to extremism.
Robow gave up violent extremism in 2013, joined politics in 2018, and was seen as a possible Southwest presidential contender.
Security experts see his appointment as a strategy to fight the Al-Shabaab insurgency. “It is a declaration of war against Al-Shabaab because Roobow has been appointed minister. a positive deed. We need to use regionalized tactics to prevail in the intellectual battle. The rest is noise.” Security analyst Hodan Ali said:
Robow was about to take office as the president of the south west region in 2018, however the Somali government blocked him from running for the position in December 2018.
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