Somali president extends amnesty to Al-Shabaab fighters

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has extended amnesty to anyone renouncing the Al-Shabaab and violence amid Al-Shabaab tries disrupt Somalia’s upcoming polls.

SMohamudt who took part in mass prayers held in Isbahaysiga Mosque of the capital Mogadishu, has called on youth to defect the group’s ideology and make use of the abandon offered by the government

“Once again, my pledge to the youth fighting for Al-Shabaab is to come back to their societies and join the rebuilding Somalia,” said the president.

President Mohamoud has on several occasions offered pardon to anyone renouncing the Islamic militant groups.

The number of Al-Shabaab members defecting to the government including senior officials have continued to increase while the group has lost major strategic controls it once controlled.

Earlier this month, Ibrahim Adan Ibrahim, a leading figure in the militant group’s Education department surrendered to Somali Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) in Mogadishu before he was presented to the media by the officials.

In 2014 former Al-Shabaab intelligence commander Zakariye Hersi surrendered to government forces claiming he had left the group a year before. He had a $3 million bounty on his head from the US government.