Somali president warns Shebab on joining IS

Cargo airplane crashes near Mogadishu

MOGADISHU, Oct 29, (AFP): Somalia’s president called on Islamist Shebab fighters to surrender amid reports factions have shifted allegiance from al-Qaeda to Islamic State.

Both militant franchises are “destroyers”, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said in a statement, saying he had followed “with interest the now-public dispute within AlShebab, over whether to swear allegiance to al-Qaeda or the Islamic State.”

Mohamud said the reported divisions were “symptomatic of a group that has lost its way”, and warned that Somalis “do not need a new brand of horror and repression.”

The Shebab, East Africa’s long-time al-Qaeda branch, is fighting to overthrow the internationally-backed government in Mogadishu, which is protected by 22,000 African Union troops.

The Islamists have lost much ground in recent years but remain a threat in both Somalia and neighbouring Kenya, where they have carried out a series of attacks.

The reported division comes at a time when Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has become the jihadist franchise of choice, attracting fighters from abroad and other militant groups such as Boko Haram in Nigeria.

But al-Qaeda has also recently expanded its territory in Yemen, just across the Gulf of Aden from Somalia.

“Do not think that your choice is limited to one of two puppet-masters, al-Qaeda or Daesh (Islamic State),” Mohamud added. “There is another option, the right and holy option: the path to peace.”

The extent of Shebab support for a move to IS is not

known, while international fighters in the Shebab have been some of the hardest hit by drone strikes and factional infighting.

Some Shebab militants are focused more on an internal Somali agenda — including navigating the Horn of Africa nation’s complex clan politics — rather than fighting for a wider international Islamist agenda.

Meanwhile, a cargo airplane with around 10 crew members has crash landed in Somalia in territory controlled by the Islamist Shebab insurgents outside the capital Mogadishu, a government official said Thursday.

The aircraft crashed in the Omar Bere area, some 45 kilometres (30 miles) south of the capital Mogadishu on Wednesday.