Sunday, May 19, 2013

Somalia: Aweys Blames Al Shabaab Chief for 'Targeting Foreign Fighters'

Garowe Online (Garowe)

Somalia: Aweys Blames Al Shabaab Chief for 'Targeting Foreign Fighters'

17 MAY 2013

Mogadishu — In an audio recording distributed to Somali media on Friday, high-ranking Al Shabaab member Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys has blamed Al Shabaab chief Ahmed Abdi Godane for "targeting foreign fighters" and for "unilateral decisions" that led to the militant group losing territory to Somali government forces aided by AMISOM peacekeepers, Garowe Online reports.

Sheikh Aweys, who was leader of the Islamic Courts Union in 2006 that led to Al Shabaab splinter group, said in the audio statement that Mr. Godane "rejected" a proposal to set up new leadership for Al Shabaab militant group.

Aweys blamed Godane for "targeting, arresting, killing, and hunting down foreign fighters" who fought alongside Al Shabaab militants since 2007.

"Godane has made unilateral decisions that led to Al Shabaab loosing control over territory in south-central Somalia," said Sheikh Aweys.

Al Shabaab foreign fighter, Abu Mansur Al-Amriki, from the U.S., recently published posts on his Twitter account claiming that he had survived an "assassination attempt" by Al Shabaab gunmen.

In April, senior Al Shabaab member Ibrahim Afghani, issued an 8-page report written in Arabic and addressed to Al Qaeda leadership in central Asia, demanding new leadership for Al Shabaab militants in Somalia.

Both Godane and Afghani hail from Somaliland, a separatist region in northwestern Somalia that unilaterally declared independence from Somalia in 1991 but has not been recognized internationally.

GAROWE ONLINE

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