Robow donating blood in the aftermath of the bloody October 14th 2017 truck bomb attack in Mogadishu that killed over 500 people

The former al-Shabaab ideologue and military commander has been appointed Somali’s Minister of Religious Affairs

Somalia’s President has recently announced his new cabinet and one controversial name has dominated the headlines and social media: Mukhar Robow Abu Mansur, known as Robow.

There are plenty of reasons that make him controversial; on one side, he was a founding member of the al-Qa’ida linked Somali terror group, al-Shabaab, providing religious and clan authority as well as ideological guidance to the group as its one-time Deputy Emir. He was not just providing moral support, though: as a senior elder in the Rahanweyn clan, he also brought with him a personal militia that at one time numbered in the hundreds. He was seldom shy of deploying his forces in battle.

But then Robow fell out with the other commanders, riled by the seeming sidelining of his people by other clans, despite the fact his Rahanweyn brethren provided the main body of the foot soldiers in the group. He eventually defected to the government side after nearly two years roaming the hinterland with his heavily armed entourage in tow.

It seemed that things were falling into place for Robow: he flipped public opinion (‘up to his armpits in blood’ was one assessment) by donating blood in the aftermath of the bloody October 14^th 2017 truck bomb attack in Mogadishu that killed over 500 people, and then he also stood as a candidate for the presidency of Southwest State in December 2018 and seemed likely to win.

Then the Somali President, Farmajo, decided to ask his Ethiopian friends to intervene: they duly did, detaining Robow and shipping him to Mogadishu, where he was placed under house arrest and effectively disappeared for three and a half years. A Farmajo annointee, Laftagaren, was installed in the Southwest State presidency.

But with Farmajo defeated in May’s presidential election, the way was now clear for the next part in Robow’s journey from terrorist to prisoner: to minister. During President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s previous tenure he was a strong proponent of picking off individual commanders from al-Shabaab through a programme of defections to the government, On offer was relocation abroad, support to following another path (religious study or setting up businesses were popular options) or even a position in government.

Now it looks like Robow has finally got what he always wanted; the last of those propositions.

With Robow in post as the Minister of Religious Affairs, the hope is that he will now be well placed to challenge at least one of al-Shabaab’s claims to authority, Islamic credentials. He may also be well placed to tackle the other ways that al-Shabaab justifies its reign of terror, as the defender of Somalia against foreign incursions and the provider of both services and security which the Mogadishu government cannot. Some have expressed concern at the lack of reckoning for Robow, the absence of any sense that he will be held to account for what he did while an al-Shabaab commander.

But peace comes at a cost and the Somali government has plenty of equally unpalatable characters already in senior roles. If Robow can make something of his post then there is a real chance that the process of ending the al-Shabaab insurgency may move beyond drawing out individuals like him via defections and towards a conclusive negotiated end to the conflict in Somalia.