Clan elders negotiate for release of jailed ex-minister and government critic

Former minister and Government critic ,Abdirahman Abdishakur at a previous event(COURTESY).   He was released on Thursday after spending two days in jail.

By.Riyaq Ahmed

NAIROBI—On Thursday a court in Somalia released former minister and government critic who spent two days in jail without charge after being arrested for alleged treason. It was an arrest which ignited a political crisis for the fragile administration.

According to Judge Aweys Sheikh Abdullahi, Abdirahman Abdishakur was released after the attorney general, who had ordered his arrest, had failed to bring evidence against him.

After reconciliation efforts between the government and traditional leaders, the former minister was released before Thursday’s court ruling, Information Minister Abdirahman Omar Osman said.

Somali attorney General Ahmed Ali Dahir at a news conference described Abdishakur’s house as a hub for the opposition and a gathering point for people who wanted to replace the government.

The arrest of the former minister who ran in the February election won by President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed followed mounting pressure on the president and his UN- backed government to end an Islamist insurgency.

Against the Islamist al Shabaab insurgency, the political turmoil endangers fragile gains.

In recent months  in the capital Mogadishu and elsewehere,islamist militants al Shabaab have been stepping up pressure on Mohamed’s government  by staging frequent and increasingly large-scale bombing against both civilian and military  targets.

Police Major Ahmed Nur said al shabaab had targeted the convoy with a roadside bomb before ambushing it.

“We sent reinforcement to the area but we believe many died from both sides, “he said.

“We ambushed the so-called military commandos and took their pickups,” Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab’s military operation spokesman, said.

Al Shabaab militants had on Thursday ambushed three vehicles belonging to the military’s US trained Special Forces unit Danab on a road between Mogadishu and town of Wanlaweyn.