Somalia’s moderate Islamist militia group says it will not give up the captured key central town of Dhusamareb, despite a demand from the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General to Somalia.
Ahlu Sunna waljama’a’s head of Political Affairs, Abdisalan Adam Hussein dismissed accusations of the group breaking a truce reached with the Federal government of Somalia.
‘’We will not pull back from our positions on the ground. Our forces did not capture Dhusamareb under Nicolas Kay demands and we will not retreat,’’ he said in an interview with the BBC Somali Service.
Ambassador Nicolas Kay called for the militias to move back ‘’to earlier positions’’ and disputes resolved via ‘’peaceful dialogue’’.
Dhusamareb, the capital of Galgadud region and North of Mogadishu, was under the control of forces loyal to the Federal government of Somalia.
Ahlu Sunna waljama’a is a paramilitary group consisting of moderate Sufis opposed to the radical Islamist groups such as Al-Shabaab in Somalia. It became prominent in 2008, when it took up arms against al-Shabaab after the radical group began destroying the tombs of the country’s Sufi saints.
Horseed Media
Somalia: Ahlu Sunna Waljama’a militia reject pull-back calls
Published: June 10, 2015
