Mukhtar Robow Ali (Abu Mansur)

Notable among these was the killing of Ibrahim Haji Jama Me'ad (aka Al Afghani) and Omar Shafiq Hammami (aka Abu Mansur al Amriki) along with the isolation of Sheikh Mukhtar Robow Ali 'Abu Mansur' who openly challenged Godane's rule within Al Shabaab (AC Vol 49 No 11 A targeted killing & Vol 54 No 20 Oil bids defy security crisis)...

His emissaries also contacted Mukhtar Robow who remains non-committal we hear...

Godane guided Al Shabaab in conjunction with other leaders including Sheikh Mukhtar Robow Ali 'Abu Mansur' who was said to represent a different strand of jihadist thinking to Godane...

A popular view was that Sheikh Mukhtar Robow Ali ‘Abu Mansur' was more ‘moderate' and a ‘nationalist' while Ahmed Abdi Godane (aka Sheikh Mukhtar ‘Abu Zubeir') was the hardliner most interested in a strong relationship with international jihadists and Al Qaida...

Now Al Shabaab co-leader Sheikh Mukhtar Robow ‘Abu Mansur’ described for years as a nationalist and ‘moderate’ (including in US State Department cables released by WikiLeaks) has been put on the latest US list of terrorists and a US$3 million reward offered for his capture...

The United Nations claimed it was evidence of a growing crisis within Al Shabaab and that ‘moderate’ commanders led by Sheikh Mukhtar Robow Ali ‘Abu Mansur’ would quickly defect and put an end to the insurgency...

For example Mukhtar Robow is up against many other Shabaab officers from his clan the Rahenweyn who support the leadership – he is no longer the only Rahenweyn figure who matters...

Sheikh Mukhtar Robow Ali ‘Abu Mansur’ a Shabaab leader and senior member of the Rahanweyn clan-group talks to aid agencies partly because he has to answer to clan leaders for the sufferings of his people...

The main Shabaab commander from Bay and Bakool Sheikh Mukhtar Robow Ali ‘Abu Mansur’ blamed Shabaab’s Emir Ahmed Abdi Godane (aka Sheikh Mukhtar ‘Abu Zubeir’) for the casualties claiming this was a deliberate attempt to weaken Shabaab ’s Digil and Merifle (Rahenweyne) components...

A decentralised system has been formalised with leaders taking control of their own home areas: Ahmed Godane Abu Zubeir in Somaliland; Fuad Mohamed Khalaf Shongole in Puntland; Mukhtar Robow in Bay and Bakool; Hassan Abdullah Hamid Turki in Lower Juba including Kismayo; Sheikh Ali Dhere and Abdullah Fazul staying put in Mogadishu; while Aweys who is currently undergoing ‘rehabilitation’ in Kismayo has been promised Galgadud including his home region...

Godane and Shabaab's former Spokesman Mukhtar Robow Ali ‘Abu Mansur' remain allies but not friends...

Sheikh Mukhtar Robow ‘Abu Mansur’ (Rahenweyne) and others wanted Sheikh Madobe declared an apostate...